Slightly eclipsed by the release of 10.6.2, Apple last night also released important security updates for older OS X systems and introduced new software for its newly-introduced Wireless Keyboard.

Wireless Keyboard Update 2.0 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later to be installed and switches on the special features of the keyboard. It’s a 10.95 download that is available here.

Apple also introduced several flavours of essential security update, with versions available for Server and desktop Macs. Apple advises the new software includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.

The upate addresses 43 specific issues in Mac OS X v10.5.8, 10.6, 10.6.1 and Mac OS X Server v10.6 and 10.6.1, many of which could lead to arbitrary code execution and allow an attacker to take control of a computer.

These include defenses against a wide-variety of malicious PDF files, H.264 movies, and disk images, all of which could potentially execute arbitrary code.

More information here.

Eagle-eyed scribes at Computerworld also note the absence of a security patch for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) systems alongside this pair of releases, suggesting support for the OS - much beloved of users of pre-Intel Macs - may have come to an end.

"Apple apparently also retired Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger, from security support; none of the patches affect that operating system, which debuted in April 2005. Apple traditionally stops providing security updates for its oldest still-supported OS several months after the release of a new edition," the report speculates. There's been no definitive news from Apple on this as yet.