14 DAY TRIAL // Not only has Apple strengthened Leopard with the release of a dedicated security update, but the Mac maker has also rolled out Flashback Removal Security Update v1.0 for Mac OS X v10.5.8.
Affecting several Mac OS iterations, the Flashback botnet reported last month didn’t skip Mac OS X v 10.5 aka Leopard...
Products Affected Java, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, OS X Lion, Safari 4 (Mac OS X 10.4), Safari 4 (Mac OS X 10.5), Safari 4 (Mac OS X 10.6), Safari 5 (Mac OS X 10.5), Safari 5 (Mac OS X 10.6)
...which is why Apple is now handing customers Flashback Removal Security Update for Mac OS X v10.5.8, albeit a tad late.
“This update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware,” reads a tech-note on Apple Support.
“If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware.”
Apple instructed its software engineers to code this update so that it also disables the Java plug-in in Safari, to improve the security of the Mac. However, customers can manually disable and re-enable the Java web plug-in in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox.
To disable the plug-in in Safari, users must choose Safari > Preferences or press Command-comma (⌘-,); click "Security”; uncheck (deselect) ‘Enable Java’; and then close the Safari preferences window.
To re-enable Java in Safari, check "Enable Java" in the browser’s preferences. It's pretty much the same with Chrome and Firefox, though Apple offers separate sets of instructions for both browsers.
How to disable the Java web plug-in in Chrome How to disable the Java web plug-in in Firefox