I recently bought a MAC Air laptop computer with the newest OS X (Big Sur) and Apple's new M1 chip with 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine. It's due to be delivered by Feb. 2. I have often heard that MACs are more secure than PCs. However, as a long-time Windows user, running security apps is pretty much programmed into my brain. Therefore, I have done a bit of research on this matter. Here are 5 of the best articles that I have found to date: Mac software threats climbed 400% in 2019, more than Microsoft Windows, report says by Edward Baig, USA TODAY List of Mac viruses, malware, and security flaws by Macworld's Karen Haslam Mac Virus & Malware Threats by Kaspersky Methods of Malware Persistence on MAC OS X by Patrick Wardle (link is to a PDF) Mac vs PC Security by Kaspersky ==>QUESTIONS 1- Did you read any of the articles that I linked above? If so, any comments> 2- Do you think I should run an antivirus app on my Mac? AND 3- If so, which antivirus app do you suggest, and why?
No. Installing MBAM is useless too. It finishes the scan in literally 2 seconds. been using a Mac since a decade and I visit all kinds of sites. Not a single issue and I don't want anything slowing me down. I do use an Adblocker though and that's all you need really if you run genuine software.
Hi, To question 1 - No. Question 2 - Yes... I also came from the Windows world. I have been on a Mac for 11 years now and have run an AV the whole time. I've never noticed any performance hit. I have been using Bitdefender for many years now and it has caught a couple of very minor issues and would recommend it. Question 3 - Bitderfnder for Mac - always ranks at or near the top of AV's and their customer service/tech support is great. Currently running Bitdefender on a new M1 MacBook Pro. Jim
I also regularly run a scan with Malwarebytes and it usually take a few minutes for the scan to finish. Jim
Hello @Spartan Yes. The release version of Malwarebytes for Mac (free, Premium and Premium Trial) completes a Threat Scan reasonably fast. However, at 2 seconds, perhaps you would consider opening a topic at https://forums.malwarebytes.com/forum/164-malwarebytes-for-mac-support-forum/ to more closely examine that system's issue. Thank you.
I will give BitDefender a trial. I will also try Kaspersky's AV for MACs -- does anyone have experience with it? Sigh!!!! No one is reading the articles that I linked. Trust me -- those articles are well designed to turn even the most cavalier MAC users into full-on, Windows-type Paranoids. Even die-hards like @Spartan should feel a chill run up their spine.
My 2 cents as an IT director in a building with PCs and iMacs... If you are the paranoid type by all means run AV on your Mac. We do not and have not had any issues. In most cases it caused more confusion. Most if not all of the possible threats we have seen in the last several years are phishing attempts and we have trained our users well not to click on links in unexpected emails. This is after a dozen years of having the iMacs around. The users of them are mostly artist types that are not largely computer literate.
Heh. Here are some more: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/does-your-mac-need-antivirus/ https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-mac-antivirus https://www.techradar.com/best/best-mac-antivirus-software https://www.comparitech.com/blog/in...-have-a-mac-do-you-need-antivirus-protection/ https://www.techradar.com/news/do-i-really-need-antivirus-for-mac https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/mac-antivirus-3672182/ https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-mac-antivirus-protection https://www.comparitech.com/antivirus/best-mac-antivirus/ https://www.imore.com/best-antivirus-software-mac Acadia
I did not read them because over the years I probably read everything there was on the subject My 2 cents is to run an AV, even on a Mac. It is a personal call, some folks have been fine all these years without one. I just feel better having one. And it does not cost me that much money nor have I ever seen a performance hit. Jim
I don't run an AV on any of my computers (including macOS). None of them run Windows. I switched to Unix to escape the Windows paranoia.
I agree with xxJackxx, in practice anti-virus on the Mac is sort of overkill. I do run ESET Cyber Security because I am the paranoid type, but in the 8 years or so that I have run it... as far as I can recall it has only found one item marked as an OSX malware, most of the detections have been web-based, or false alarms, or Windows malware attached to emails sent to me or on the virtual drives associated with my Windows guest VM on my Mac. ESET has not had any noticeable operational overhead impact. Yes, macOS malware does exist... however there are several mechanisms that prevent it from being a significant problem in practice... Marketshare. Windows probably still represents > 85% of the market, so hackers will still tend to target it first. Mac malware is a niche market for the bad guys. Gatekeeper. Apple has a technology called Gatekeeper which on its default settings will only allow software from the App Store or from "identified developers" to run. Code Signing. Forcing software to be code-signed in order to run tends to greatly restrict malware because malware developers aren't likely to want to register themselves with Apple's developer program in order to have a valid digital signature signed by Apple's certificate authority. App Sandbox. Since 2012, apps submitted to and distributed through the App Store have to run in the App Sandbox. The sandbox greatly limits the effect malware could have. XProtect. It isn't widely known or visible to most end-users, but Apple has a built-in anti-malware capability called XProtect (see Protecting Against Malware). When software is first run, or has been changed, it is compared against the malware YARA signatures before it is allowed to run. These malware definitions get updated during Apple's normal software update process and is all the anti-virus solution most users require. OS Permissions. Apple's macOS and its file system permissions share much in common with Linux/Unix with its standard user account versus "root" structure. Certain operations can only occur through the use of "sudo" and the use of a root password. System Integrity Protection (SIP). Apple has a technology called System Integrity Protection that prevents essentially any software not signed by Apple from compromising, replacing, or modifying key operating system files. If you do need to update those files, it has to take place during an Apple-specific restart process... or you have to boot into the recovery partition and specifically disable SIP, and then reboot back into macOS. [Edit: This might be a better link as an overview for System Integrity Protection.] So while it is possible to get infected by macOS malware, the "attack surface" of a Mac just seems smaller than that on Windows as a general statement. I have never really seen an infected Mac myself, that I know of anyway; although I did hear about a friend with a Mac who did get compromised with malware. On Windows, I have seen plenty of compromised machines over the years.
@Acadia -- great lynx!! I will read them all, as time permits. @Alec -- Excellent summary of Mac security!!! I have put a copy (lynx & all) into my PC's Mac files. (My granddaughter is reading this thread, and getting interested in a Mac for the main reason of its lower "attack surface" as you put it.) @xxJackxx -- I greatly appreciate your pointed comments. You definitely got my attention. 10Q^nth.
"Signed kernel extensions" method in 4th link is outdated since macOS Big Sur is not designed to allow them.
No recommendation, but a warning: stay away from Sophos. The company I work for upgraded my 2015 MacBook Pro to a (8-Core Intel Core i9) 2019 MacBook Pro, but with Sophos installed (and I cannot remove it). The new machine is slower than the old one... (due to the AV) Example: updating Xcode from the App Store took over 90 minutes today!
Yes thanks for the info Alec, quite interesting. I would probably still use third party security tools on a Mac, just to feel a bit safer. I would love to see behavior blocking tools like SpyShelter and HitmanPro-Alert for the macOS.
No. Apple's powerful Guardian antimalware protection and turning on the Mac firewall with a third party frontend like Lulu are more than sufficient. I don't need an AV on MacOS and that's been true since the PowerPC days.
The other reason you don't need AV on a Mac is unlike in Windows, Macs run with standard user accounts like with UNIX in general. You have to be pretty stupid to give elevated permission to allow an unknown executable to run on your Mac. When you don't trust a file, two pieces of sound advice are always relevant here: don't download it and don't run it.
Macs have been getting infected since the 1980s. Much like Linux based systems, Macs can also be storing Windows malware and can pass them on to other Windows users. https://blog.malwarebytes.com/mac/2021/05/apple-confirms-macs-get-malware/ https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-viruses-list-3668354/ You may also read about the experiences of users that come to the Malwarebytes forum seeking malware removal assistance: https://forums.malwarebytes.com/forum/165-mac-malware-removal-help-support/ With no protection, some Mac based browsers can easily be compromised. Unprotected Macs are also subject to Adware, Malvertising, PUAs, and PUPs. HTH
MacOS will flag untrusted sites and block software from running, even if you have turned off Gatekeeper to be able to install files outside of the Apple App Store.
