Intego Addresses the 'Oompa-Loompa' Trojan Horse

by , 2:30 PM EST, February 16th, 2006

In response to the news of a Mac OS X Trojan horse, dubbed "Oompa-Loompa," that is in circulation, Intego on Thursday released a Q&A that addresses the situation. The company noted that the Intego VirusBarrier X and VirusBarrier X4 virus definitions released on Feb. 14 will eradicate the Trojan horse and ensure that any future Trojan horse which use the same technique will be destroyed as well.

The company said it has found two versions of the Trojan horse and is on the lookout for more. While the file is named latestpics.tgz, Intego noted that it could change names if other hackers alter it. The company also pointed out that a password won't be required if a user who's logged in as an administrator opens the file.

Oompa-Loompa only affects Macs with PowerPC processors running Mac OS X v10.4, according to Intego. The company said it has "been in close contact with Apple to ensure that this Trojan horse is controlled as quickly as possible."

Intego believes Oompa-Loompa is actually "a combination of all three types of malware. First, it is a Trojan horse: an executable hidden inside a file disguised as a graphic file. Then it is a virus, as it replicates in other applications on a user's computer. Finally, it is a worm, when it sends itself, via iChat, to other users."