Soon after Apple released an update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard systems to fix the MacDefender malware, security firm ESET said that it has identified a new fake MacDefender variant called "MacShield."

Dan Clark, an ESET vice-president, wrote in a post on the company blog that, "As in the case of its oldest sibling MacDefender, the MacShield variant has taken the name of a legitimate Mac OS X software product with small distribution, doubtless causing the real developer significant heartache."

He also said that the interface for this malware is mainly the same but the ‘dialogs and alerts’ have been changed to feature the new name. the malware dupes users by claiming that it ha backed by about 250 "specialists" working in "more than 10 countries," and has a database that includes "almost all known dangerous software."

MacShield uses similar tactics to MacDefender malware in order to attract users.