Apple has quietly removed a statement from its website claiming that its OS X operating system isn’t vulnerable to viruses.

PC World:

Apple removed the previous statement “It doesn’t get PC viruses” and replaced it with “It’s built to be safe,” and “Safeguard your data. By doing nothing” with “Safety. Built in.”

Sophos U.S. senior technology consultant Graham Cluley says this is a sign that Apple is beginning to take security seriously. “I view the changes in the messages pushed out by their marketing department as some important baby-steps,” he wrote in a blog entry. “Let’s hope more Apple Mac owners are also learning to take important security steps — such as installing antivirus protection.”

(Sophos is a developer of anti-virus software for the Mac.)

Apple has released a security guide for its iOS portable device operating system, and announced in February that OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion, will include a new feature, Gatekeeper, that would allow users to restrict which applications can run on their computers.