Apple releases Flashback malware removal tool

Early this month a quite alarming news shocked the Mac users community, as more than half a million Mac laptops were infected with the malicious Mac Flashback trojan. After they have been criticized for acting slow on this security threat, a software update was released by Apple for systems running OS X Lion and Mac OS X v10.6 that will update Java to fix the security flaw, and remove the Flashback malware if it is present, soon after.

A second update was released three days later, as Apple keeps its promise to track the virus and continue to release software updates for protection of Mac users. Today, Apple has released a fresh Java update that it says removes the Flashback Trojan on infected Macintosh computers.

The malware installs itself if a user visits a malicious website, exposing the computer to control by hackers.

The update’s release comes two days after Apple said it was tackling the issue, and a week after an anti-virus firm warned 600,000 Macs were infected.

Another security firm, Kaspersky, has recalled its own Trojan-removal tool after it affected some user settings.

The company said its tool was removing settings on the computers it was being installed on, and promised to offer a replacement shortly.

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