It’s live now, go get it quickly via the Software Update feature from the Apple menu. Apple explains that the 2.36MB download “provides additional protection by checking for the MacDefender malware and its known variants”. If Apple finds the pesky MacDefender malware on your system, the computer “will quit this malware, delete any persistent files, and correct any modifications made to configuration or login files”.
More information from Apple’s support document:
And this bit about malware removal:
You can also download the standalone Mac OS X Snow Leopard Security Update 2011-03 here. Apple has also published a support document regarding XProtect. Of course, we’ve known Apple has had malware list for cases like this since 2009. Reader Tobias took it upon himself to explain…
And a timely anecdotal evidence from our reader Jonah H.:
Good thing Apple has issued the update to fix this malware threat before it gets overblown. Moving on, guys…
