Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac checks these types of compressed files for threats:
- .ace: WinAce archiver file
- .arj: ARJ compressed archive file
- .bin: MacBinary encoded file or CD image
- .bz2: UNIX BZip2 compressed file
- .cab: Microsoft cabinet file
- .eml: Microsoft Outlook Email file
- .gz: UNIX or GNU ZIP archive
- .gzip
- .hqx: Macintosh BinHex encoded file
- .mht: Multipurpose Internet mail HTML file
- .rar: WinRAR compressed file
- .tar: Backup tape archive
- .td0: Teledisk disk image
- .uu: UU-encoded data file
- .z: UNIX compressed archive file
- .zip: PKzip or 7-zip compressed file
How it works
Your Antivirus for Mac can find malicious software hiding inside multiple layers of compressed files.
Most compressed files contain only a single layer. A compressed file that itself contains other compressed files has multiple layers.
For example:
A compressed file called pets.zip contains cats.doc, dogs.zip, birds.doc and fish.doc.
dogs.zip is also a compressed file containing beagles.doc and poodles.doc. When considering the entire pets.zip file, dogs.zip, birds.doc and fish.doc are in the first layer of compression, while beagles.doc and poodles.doc are in the second layer of compression, hidden inside dogs.zip.