Apple releases a second update to Java in one week

6 April, 2012 - Paul Dixon
Java update for OS X 2012-002

An update to Java, which Apple released earlier in the week to address a vulnerability that is reported to have led to over half a million Macs to be infected by the Flashback trojan, has now been superseded by a second update.

Apple hasn’t revealed what the latest update, which weighs in at 66.6 MB, fixes. The release notes for it simply state that: “Java for OS X 2012-002 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_31″.

When it launches later this year, the next version of OS X – Mountain Lion will include a new feature called “Gatekeeper” which should hopefully make it harder for malware like the Flashback trojan to infect systems. By default, Gatekeeper will only allow apps from the Mac App Store, or apps that have been created by somebody with a valid Apple developer ID, to be installed.

Make sure you install this latest Java update on your Mac – you should see it available as a download in Software Update.

[Via MacRumors]

About the author

Paul Dixon is the owner of Macsessed. He lives in Lancashire in the UK where he works as a web designer. You can find him on and Twitter.