F-Secure, an anti-virus and computer security software company based in Helsinki, Finland, has identified the first rogue application written for Macs. The malware is named MacSweeper and dupes people into buying it by identifying bogus security risks.

The software offers to remove the fake security problems with the purchase of a $39.99 lifetime subscription to MacSweeper. This type of malware is often called "scareware" because it "scares" people into buying the program, for no real benefit. MacSweeper's sibling in the Windows world is called Cleanator and appears to be run by the same thieves.

Information on the site about MacSweeper's company, Kiwi Software, is copied from Symantec's webpage, with only the name changed. MacSweeper seems hosted in Ukraine.

So what does the first Mac rogue application really mean? It means that with Mac's growing popularity and growing user base comes certain problems that can't be ignored. [...] It doesn't mean that Mac is becoming less secure in and of itself. But it does mean that Mac users will have to watch out for social engineering tricks just like Windows users have had to do for years - wrote Patrik Runald, security response manager for F-Secure.

This announcement comes just a week after Sunbelt Software security researchers Patrick Jordan and Adam Thomas warned of the appearance of yet another version of Trojan.DNSChanger. That Mac malware attempts to dupe Web site visitors into installing a purported media codec to enable video viewing.

F-Secure, founded in 1988, claims to be the first antivirus vendor to establish a World Wide Web presence back in 1994.