Apple announced in its Web site that a recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender "anti-virus" software to solve the issue.

Apple has outsold tablets and other smartphones with its iPad and iPhone but it still lags in PC sales from Microsoft Windows-run devices. The Mac though has prided itself as virtually malware-free compared to devices that run on Windows.

Apple said the "anti-virus" software, known as the MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity, are malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user's credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.

Apple will likely be criticized for the late announcement on the malware. The existence of the Mac Defender was reported by unofficial Apple Macintosh security site, www.securemac.com, early this month.

According to forums, users appear to obtain the infection through malicious pages appearing in Google Image searches. The malware automatically downloads itself to Macs when a presumably infected web page is reached, asking to be installed once the download process has completed.

Apple currently has not so far released a fix for the malware. It stated it will deliver "in the coming days" a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.

Products affected are the Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, and Mac OS X 10.5

For the meantime, Apple said that if any notifications about viruses or security software appear, users should quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn't work, then Force Quit the browser.