There were claims of a Flashback trojan infecting over 600,000 Macs last week. Apple has now released a free Java update that removes the most common variants of the flashback malware.

Many programs were created to easily remove infected machines, but the update is still recommended if you own a Mac.

This Java security update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware.

This update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-enable automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application. If the Java web plug-in detects that no applets have been run for an extended period of time it will again disable Java applets.

This update is recommended for all Mac users with Java installed.

For details about this update see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5242

The update can be download by running the Software Update on your Mac/Macbook. A seperate Java for Mac OS X 10.6 update is needed for users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

[via macrumors]