Sean Sullivan, F-Secure's security advisor, said that, Apple Macs are safer in today's threat landscape and their owners come across far less malicious software than the average PC owner.

However, he said, safe is not the same as secure, drawing the analogy between PCs and houses.

"Houses located in a safer neighbourhood are not technically more secure from burglary. Most of today's Macs just happen to exist in a safer online environment and aren't being targeted by cyber-criminals. Criminal's return on investment is simply better in the PC world", he said.

According to Sullivan, a growing number of F-Secure's customers live in households with using both PCs and Macs and they are increasingly asking us to secure their irreplaceable content and not just their computers.

"F-Secure Online Backup is an example of fulfilling this need. As the share of Macs increase, so too does the security threat against Mac users. There are already several trojans and backdoors ready to infect unprotected Macs", he said.

Sullivan went on to say that Apple Macs are safer than PCs but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're more secure.

"Many of today's threats are browser based and Mac users are increasing vulnerable to social engineering exploits. We are concerned with protecting all of our customers, their data, their content and their reputation", he said.

"This release of F-Secure Mac Protection is our first step into securing the Mac community, and that happens to include a growing number of F-Secure employees", he added.

F-Secure says that the team members developing its Mac Protection software have years of experience with UNIX-based operating systems.

The product, says Sullivan, already provides excellent real-time protection against all Mac-based threats and works smoothly without slowing down your Mac.

"It is the natural first step in their development of a comprehensive Mac security solution. Protecting Mac users is the team's goal", he said.

As with the PC/Windows edition, Mac Protection is billed as detecting and automatically removing malicious Apple Mac software. Automatic updates ensure constant protection against the fast-changing threat landscape.

Other features include a firewall integration which automatically enables the OS X system firewall if disabled, and a 'panic button' facility that instantly blocks all online traffic except update servers in the case of an emergency.

The good news is that the software is available free of charge for six months under F-Secure's beta testing program and can be downloaded from the website on registration.