12/27/2023 0 Comments Macos malware years runonly to forIt’s not just the conspiracy theorists you have to watch out for. While amplification of threat intelligence through news stories, tweets and other social media serves the security industry just as amplification of relevant issues serves any business sector, to claim that all vendors are unscrupulous or that the threat is entirely fictional is disingenuous and worse, it’s dangerous.Īs we’ll see below, the threats are real, but the conspiracy theorists threaten to lead macOS users into a false sense of security. However, unlike the one shown above and others like it, there are genuine security products out there developed by genuinely-good people serving the community.īut the real point is that the existence of commercial interests in the anti-malware industry is, on its own, no more an indicator of duplicity than it is in any other industry. Unscrupulous, indeed.īe wary of any software that offers to “find” threats but then insists you pay up in order to remove them or which tries to lock you in after minimal use where you cannot fully determine the value of the offering. Some of those proclaiming that the security industry is all fraud are pushing their own software as an alternative. There are plenty of dodgy AV products around some are even on the Apple App Store. And where there’s commerce, you’ll also find cheats and unscrupulous dealers. The reality is that there are, indeed, commercial interests involved in fighting malware just as there are in fighting other kinds of crime. It’s rather like saying insurance companies or law enforcement have an interest in higher crime rates. ![]() The conspiracy theorists like to point out that security vendors have a vested interest in making people fearful. Ransomware has also been known on the platform, though thankfully to date that’s an isolated incident. These days, criminals are more interested in pushing macOS adware, backdoors, keyloggers, RATS, trojans and spyware. Viruses were the product of vandals the modern security threats facing macOS users are the products of profiteers. That’s because viruses are a specific kind of threat that went out of fashion long ago. There actually aren’t any known viruses on macOS, it’s true (these days, there are very few for Windows either and most AV software isn’t primarily looking for them). This is a laughable confusion of terminology.ĪV software is inappropriately named. The claim that emanates from such people often begins with “there are no known viruses for macOS” and, therefore, you don’t need anti-virus software. The Mac AV industry and security researchers have worked very hard to make you believe this is something to be afraid of.” “you are at much greater risk from a concussion due to a fish falling from the sky. ![]() In many Mac user forums, people worried about hacking and malware are often treated to dismissive replies of this sort: ![]() The purveyors of such arguments typically make a big deal of trying to undermine any argument that security is an issue on macOS by claiming that malware on Macs is all a myth made up by AV vendors to drum up business for their own products. These people variously claim that there is no malware threat to Macs, or if there is then Macs are immune from it, and no matter what the case, Macs are inherently safer than other kinds of computer, specifically Windows computers. There’s an unfortunate and dangerous misconception perpetrated by certain people in the macOS community. Then we’ll look at the actual security situation on macOS and make some suggestions as to how you can stay safe without turning yourself into a paranoid security conspiracist or downloading useless software that just eats up your system resources while providing no real protection. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons why people think Macs are safe from malware and the confusions that are often bandied around concerning “AV” (“anti virus software”), “viruses” and genuine malware. Do Macs get malware? Can my Mac get infected by a virus? Do I need AV software for my Mac? These are questions I hear a lot, but the answers that come from many so-called Apple Mac gurus are often wrong or misleading.
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