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Apples antivirus did not detect the new sample, said Peter James, a spokesman for Intego, a French firm that develops Mac security software.

According to James, the new malware file is identified as mdinstall.pkg and if installed, plants the phony MacGuard software on the victims Mac.

This isnt surprising, that theres a new variant out almost as soon as Apple released its security update Tuesday, said James.

On Tuesday, Apple released an update for Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, that warns users that theyve downloaded fake Mac security software and scrubs machines already infected with the scareware.

Also called rogueware, scareware is bogus security software that claims a computer is heavily infected with worms, viruses and other malware.

Once installed, the worthless program nags users with pervasive pop-ups and fake alerts until they fork over a fee.

MacDefender, the generic name for the new series that targets Macs, demands 60 to 80 to cease and desist.

The new MacDefender appeared only hours after Apple issued its update yesterday, said James.

Theyll keep doing this, James predicted, referring to the cat-and-mouse game between the hackers who create MacDefender and Apples efforts to block them.

Its worked well enough that theyre making money off it, or they wouldnt be doing this.

Coming out with a new version right after the update, and a new version as soon as Apple announced it was going to release an update, shows that theyre planning on staying on top of things, James said.

In a Tuesday interview, Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with U.K.-based Sophos said Apples update would either accelerate the race or the hackers would give up.

If they keep doing MacDefender, it implies they are succeeding at making money, said Wisniewski.

Apples defense is signature-based, said James, talking about the antivirus tactic that relies on individual fingerprints of each piece of malware for detection.

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Part of the new variants code is the same, but part of it is different.

Its different enough that Apples MacDefender signature wasnt able to spot the new version.

This is why you need detection thats not based on a single method, James argued, as he pitched Integos VirusBarrier X6 antivirus software, which like most security software uses generic signatures able to detect minor variations in malware code without requiring a new fingerprint.

The update that Apple pushed to Snow Leopard users Tuesday also increased the frequency with which the operating system checks for new definitions: By default Mac OS X 10.6 will now look for new malware signatures daily.

How fast Apple reacts to the new MacDefender will show the companys commitment to stamping out scareware, said James.

How long is it going to take Apple to update Snow Leopard with a new signature The timing of the newest versions release suggested that Microsoft, which previously linked MacDefender with a group responsible for a fast-spreading Windows fake antivirus scam, was on the right track.

Microsoft had pointed to evidence that the gang was based in Russia.

It suggests that theyre not in the States, said James, noting that Apple updated Snow Leopard around 6 p.m.

ET Tuesday, or midnight in France, where Intego is headquartered, and about 2 a.m.

Wednesday in Moscow.

They would have had a full day to get this up, James said of the new versions appearance in the early evening today, Moscow time.

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