Apple has finally acknowledge and has promised an update for Mac OS X that will find and remove the MacDefender fake security software, and warn uninfected users when they download the infectious program.
The announcement — part of a new support document that the company posted late Tuesday — was the company’s first public recognition of the threat posed by what security experts call “scareware” or “rogueware.”
Apple has taken criticism for not publicly responding to the MacDefender threat.
“In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants,” Apple said in the document. “The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.”
Apple also outlined steps that users with infected Macs can take to remove the scareware.
Andrew Storms, director of security operations with nCircle Security, was surprised that Apple said it would embed a malware cleaning tool in Mac OS X.
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