Some say Mac computers are great because there is little or no virus that can affect its operating system. Recently, I found something on my USB stick that would test that statement...
At first I thought the unidentified folder on my USB stick was mine, but then again I don't remember copying any folders called "Ivana" nor would I re-title a folder with that name. Once I collapsed the folder, I instantly knew what it was - a virus!
So instantly, when I saw a virus, I immediately thought it was caused by my PCs at home running on the Windows platform. I'm sure everyone has been affected or have known someone who's computer has crashed recently because of an unknown computer virus. And also, many would agree that it was very easy to catch a virus on a computer running in a Windows environment.
Nevertheless, I continue with my CreComm life by backing up the contents of my USB stick. As long as you don't run the program contained in the "Ivana" folder then you're actually fine. The virus in this case was an executable file ending with the file extension '.exe' so for it to work, you would have to double-click on the file. Collapsing the folder container would allow you to see the contents of the folder without touching the programs or files in it.
Knowing that my CreComm movements were logged and monitored at school, I was careful not to bring the virus to the school's Mac computers, which were what we primarily use because of Adobe InDesign and Final Cut Pro. So after formatting my USB stick, I transferred all my files back. I ended up doing this procedure about three times...finding an unknown folder, formatting my USB stick then transferring my files again.
Eventually, I got frustrated. I even ran my virus check on both my desktop PC and laptop, twice and yet no viruses were found. This puzzled me. Until yesterday...
I printed out a promotion campaign for The Fyxx for my advertising class. I brought my 'clean' USB stick to the print centre in the William building. As "Lorne The Print Guy" looked for my pdf file, he paused and picked up the phone. As he talked to the person on the phone, Lorne looked at the screen in front of him. I couldn't help but ask "Is there something wrong Lorne?" He hung up the phone and replied "There's a virus here..." still looking at the screen.
I immediately thought I didn't properly format my USB stick and that the folder was not actually deleted...my "Ivana" secret was out! And worse, it might have infected Lorne's computer! I must say I was a bit terrified and thought I was going to get expelled from RRC for crashing the network with virus on my USB stick.
Little did I know that the virus Lorne was looking at on his screen was a different virus altogether. Which meant that the virus came from his computer! Which meant that the entire time I was getting infected was because the virus was on select Mac computers at school! This also meant that my computers at home were NOT the ones that were infecting my USB stick.
Lorne handed me back my ISB stick and didn't say much. All he said was "The virus is contained, we quarantined it." As soon as I plugged it into a Mac at school, I saw a new folder added to my flash drive. This one was labelled "Sevebomba" but the contents had been emptied by Lorne.
For those Mac users who think Macs are impermeable to viruses, think again. This was proof that viruses exist on Macs and can attach themselves on to your flash drive or USB stick so always run a virus check on your platform at home and scan your USB stick too!
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