Apple Said to Remove Mac Defender Virus Next Mac OS Update

Apple finally addresses the issue about a malware (malicious software) commonly known as MacDefender, MacProtector, and MacSecurity  that has been victimizing a lot of Mac users lately. In an online support document released today, Apple said that in the coming days, it will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and strike out the MacDefender malware and its variants and will also protect Mac users thru an explicit warning if they happen to download the malware.

For the meantime that Apple has not released the software to combat the MacDefender malware, it has also included a step-by-step guide on how to avoid installing the malware and how to remove it manually.

The MacDefender malware became a pesky problem and was looked into by Ed Bott in a series of articles at ZDNet, according to macrumors.com. Bott learned from an anonymous AppleCare representative handling CPU support that the malware issue has escalated to such a point that 50 per cent of the calls received by around 600 representatives were about the MacDefender issue. Bott also reported that he found more than 200 separate discussion threads about the issue, which started with four posts in April 30. He estimated that between 60,000 to 125,000 or more were affected by the MacDefender malware, a figure which Apple neither confirms nor deny.

Apple has been criticized earlier for not allowing representatives to assist customers with malware issues. The unnamed representative said that it is part of AppleCare's official policy since the company does not want to raise the customers expectations and representatives are only instructed to recommend antivirus software to customers. In a follow-up article by Bott, he provides a copy of an Apple internal memo which explains and instructs what Apple representatives should do when confronted with the issue of the MacDefender malware. At the bottom part of the document, one of the specific instructions to Apple reps is: "Do not attempt to remove or uninstall any malware software".

The MacDefender malware was described by Apple as a phishing scam which redirects Mac users from legitimate websites to fake websites which warns them their computer is infected with a virus. Then the user is offered the MacDefender "anti-virus" software to resolve the issue. But the real goal of this malware is to get the customers' credit card information which may be used for malicious and fraudulent purposes in the future. The products affected by the MacDefender malware and its variants are Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, and Mac OS X 10.6.