The Newton Virus: Hitting a Mac near you?

March 5, 2008 by Kiltak |

The Newton virus is a perfectly inoffensive little Mac application that will never replicate itself, mail itself to your contact list or delete any of your files. According to its designer, it was made to revive the golden era of “fun” viruses, which were created to make pranks upon your friends. The little critter comes on a USB key that looks like a cross between an evil Apple logo and a carnivore PacMan. If you want to infect someone with it, all you need to do it to plug the device on a Mac system for a few seconds and remove it. The Virus will then execute itself at a completely random time, and it will do so only once. Check out the following video to see it in all its destructive glory.

You Might Also Like:

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Posted in Apple, Security, Software | | Random Post

Did you enjoy this post? If so, subscribe to the geeksaresexy RSS feed.

RSS feed | Trackback URI

12 Comments »

Comment by that boy next door

2008-03-05 07:38:29

Does the mac have a way of interpreting gravity?

Reply to this comment

Comment by Kiltak

2008-03-05 07:46:27

I know some macbooks have some kind of sensors, which can allow applications to simulate gravity when turning the system around…

Reply to this comment

Comment by whizkid515

2008-08-12 07:19:12

All Apple laptops since the Jan 2005 version of the PowerBook and the mid-05 version of the iBook have had a sensor in the hard drive that detects motion so the hard drive will stop spinning if it senses that it’s falling. Since then some non-Apple laptops have had Hard Drives with a Sudden Motion Sensor.

(Comments wont nest below this level)

Reply here

Comment by David Lano

2008-03-05 07:52:41

Wow, this is sweet! Where do I get one??

Reply to this comment

Comment by jack

2008-03-05 08:19:42

i think it has something to do with the hard drive sensor. awhile back when the macbooks first came out people had written all kinds of software for it. like playing a monkey ball clone by tilting your macbook around. i think it’s also how the lightsaber application works as well.

this is definitely a super neat virus. hopefully no super genius deices to make is lethal. =P

Reply to this comment

Comment by timothy Smith

2008-03-05 15:49:02

Its called “sudden motion sensor” or accelerometer. Very acurate. This what tries to shut down you hard drive when you drop your notebook to the floor.

Reply to this comment

Comment by Palluxo! Subscribed to comments via email

2008-03-05 17:39:47

Quote: “The Newton virus is a perfectly inoffensive little Mac application that will never replicate itself, mail itself to your contact list or delete any of your files. According to its designer, it was made to revive the golden era of “fun” viruses, which were created to make pranks upon your friends. ”

Hahah… No thanks. I don’t need it on my computer. What he calls “fun virus” is in fact nasty annoyance that no Mac user would appreciate.

Daniel

Reply to this comment

Comment by zackrobbin Subscribed to comments via email

2008-03-08 17:51:10

Daniel here is apparently trying to imply that anybody with a sense of humor would never want to use a Mac. Other Mac users out there, would you say that’s accurate?

Reply to this comment

Comment by London

2008-03-05 17:58:42

cool, I didn’t know macs had accelerometers

Reply to this comment

Pingback by kit-kat break, mac breaks « nicthegeek

2008-03-09 21:46:52

[...] The Newton Virus: Hitting a Mac near you? [...]

Reply to this comment

Comment by CHICK CHACK Subscribed to comments via email

2008-07-29 09:02:27

where do i get one of these little prank virus’es and how/when does it go away?

Reply to this comment

Comment by whizkid515

2008-08-12 08:40:36

Where can I get one of those flash drives. That flash drive looked so cool!

Reply to this comment

[Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News