Security Update 2011-003 Addresses Mac Defender Malware

Apple has released Secuirty Update 2011-003 (Snow Leopard) to address MacDefender Malware/Trojan. This update will remove MacDefender if it was found and will update the File Quarantine feature to block MacDefender.

In addition, File Quarantine will also be updated daily with malware definitions to prevent any future variation of MacDefender (Mac Guard for example).

Security Update 2011-003

• File Quarantine

  Available for: Mac OS X v10.6.7, Mac OS X Server v10.6.7

  Impact: Definition added

  Description: The OSX.MacDefender.A definition has been added to the malware check within File Quarantine. Information on File Quarantine is available in this Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3662

• File Quarantine

  Available for: Mac OS X v10.6.7, Mac OS X Server v10.6.7

  Impact: Automatically update the known malware definitions

  Description: The system will check daily for updates to the File Quarantine malware definition list. An opt-out capability is provided via the "Automatically update safe downloads list" checkbox in Security Preferences. Additional information is available in this Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4651

• Malware removal

  Available for: Mac OS X v10.6.7, Mac OS X Server v10.6.7

  Impact: Remove the MacDefender malware if detected

  Description: The installation process for this update will search for and remove known variants of the MacDefender malware. If a known variant was detected and removed, the user will be notified via an alert after the update is installed. Additional information is available in this Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4651

When your Mac discovers the MacDefender malware it will display the following dialog box:

To install the update click the Apple logo then choose Software Update.

Direct download link: Security Update 2011-003 (Snow Leopard).

[Image credit: Cnet UK.]

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