The program appears in malicious links spread by search engine optimization poisoning on sites such as Google Image Search. It appears as a pop-up indicating that viruses have been detected on the users' computer and suggests they download a program which, if installed, provides the users' personal information to unauthorized third parties.

Users typically encounter the program when opening an image found on a search engine. However, it is not the first Mac-specific Trojan, and is not self-propagating.Ī variant of the program, known as Mac Guard, has been reported which does not require the user to enter a password to install the program, although one still does have to run the installer. The software has been described as the first major malware threat to the Macintosh platform (although it does not attach to or damage any part of OS X). The Mac security firm Intego discovered the fake antivirus software on, with a patch not being provided by Apple until 31 May. Mac Defender (also known as Mac Protector, Mac Security, Mac Guard, Mac Shield, and FakeMacDef) is an internet rogue security program that targets computers running macOS.

Mac antivirus program