Malware authors have created a proof-of-concept virus that's capable, in theory at least, of infecting Mac PCs running OS X. The Macarena virus isn't spreading and even in the highly unlikely event your Mac catches the infection it doesn't do any real harm.

The low-threat pathogen Illustrates the point that Macs, just like Linux boxes, aren't immune from computers viruses even though incidents of infection on these machines remains as rare as finding hen's teeth. Windows machines have for years been the principal target for virus writers and there's no sign that will change anytime soon, if ever.

Mac viruses were relatively common at the dawn of personal computing, but these days the overwhelming majority of viruses are Windows specific. Macarena isn't the first piece of malware capable of infecting Mac OS X machines. Of the handful of Mac OS X pathogens ever created only the Leap Trojan has been spotted in the wild. ®

Related stories

• Mac lambs line up for slaughter (16 January 2008)
• Macs seized by porn Trojan (31 October 2007)
• 'Mac worm' hacker in death threat farce (19 July 2007)
• Apple blocks Mac OS X security holes (29 November 2006)
• Unpatched bug bites Apple Mac OS X (22 November 2006)
• AMD confirms ATI-brand Radeon X1900 card for Macs (7 November 2006)
• McAfee warns over Apple virus risk (9 May 2006)
• Triple threat to Mac OS X largely academic (27 February 2006)
• Sophos in Mac OS X worm false alarm (23 February 2006)
• Mac OS X malware latches onto Bluetooth vulnerability (17 February 2006)
• 'First' Mac OS X Trojan sighted (16 February 2006)
• Firefox and Mac security sanctuaries 'under attack' (19 September 2005)
• Apple mega-patch fixes 19 flaws (5 May 2005)