Sophos' Graham Cluley wrote: "Clearly they've [Apple] decided that pointing out the size of the Windows malware problem isn't going to look terribly convincing unless they are also open about that Mac malware also exists."

Cluley points out that earlier this year, a . Shortly after, a second threat emerged .

Many saw the as a wakeup call that Macs are just as vulnerable as PCs to malware. Perhaps it also alerted Apple to the fact that Mac users don't feel as safe as they did last year. Now that Mac malware is on the rise, and is more prominently in the news, Apple seems to have made the decision to alter its previous security claims that could be seen as misleading.

Sophos says that one in 36 of Macs that had its free anti-virus product installed were found to be infected by OS X malware in a recent analysis, highlighting that the problem is real.