Security

[poppi]

Hello

I just bought a new i Mac and have been having some security problems, some of which are my fault by not being more careful with warning popups. My question is simple. My banker, who is not a Mac expert but certainly knows more than me, strongly recommends adding antivirus software to my Mac. I have always believed Macs are inherently safe from virus but am wondering if he has a point. I would appreciate thoughts and suggestions y'all might recommend

Thank you
poppi

 

[MacInWin]

There are no WIndows-like viruses for the Mac. None. Your banker is just parroting what is "common knowledge" about computers in general. If you are using the iMac at home, in your own local network with a good password to log into that network, your transactions will be safe.

What "security problems" are you having? Let us help with them.

 

[pm-r]

I would appreciate thoughts and suggestions y'all might recommend

I hope you get better Financial advice from your Banker than the Mac advice he provides you.

Just do as Jake suggested and you'll be well protected and secure, and just avoid all those sites and scams that get headed your way as scams or various phishing attempts. Your brain is the best security defence against those.

 

[RadDave]

I hope you get better Financial advice from your Banker than the Mac advice he provides you.

Just do as Jake suggested and you'll be well protected and secure, and just avoid all those sites and scams that get headed your way as scams or various phishing attempts. Your brain is the best security defence against those.

@ Poppi - I'll have to agree w/ the others, i.e. your Banker is completely ignorant of the 'Apple Universe, thus don't take his advice on adding AV protection on your new Mac - a lot of advice HERE, much of which I don't do but at least learn about 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) and if available on your important financial interactions (e.g. banking, insurance, etc.) then enable the feature; also 'Passkeys' are becoming more accessible - I'm just getting into that option. Dave

 

[Rod]

Your banker is giving you the classic "broad brush" opinion that everybody should have antivirus protection for "deniability" should something go wrong. If you have an issue of some sort it's best to say, "yes" when asked do you have antivirus protection. Much easier than trying to explain why you don't need it.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Hello

I just bought a new i Mac and have been having some security problems, some of which are my fault by not being more careful with warning popups. My question is simple. My banker, who is not a Mac expert but certainly knows more than me, strongly recommends adding antivirus software to my Mac. I have always believed Macs are inherently safe from virus but am wondering if he has a point. I would appreciate thoughts and suggestions y'all might

The Macintosh has had multiple layers of anti-malware protection built-in for many years now.

Recently, the Mac's anti-malware protection has been increased to the point that any additional third party anti-virus software is redundant, and a waste of resources.

As of macOS 12.3 or later, fully interactive anti-malware protection is built-in. There is no need whatsoever for third party anti-virus software:
Last Week on My Mac: Is your Mac still secure from malware?

A “Rapid Security Response” feature was added for macOS 13 (Ventura) and later:

What Are Rapid Security Responses and Why Are They Important? - TidBITS

Apple has released the first Rapid Security Responses to iOS 16.4.1, iPadOS 16.4.1, and macOS 13.3.1. Adam Engst explains what a Rapid Security Response is and why they should see significantly faster adoption than traditional updates.

tidbits.com

This feature addresses security concerns that, when they arise, are considered so severe that they need to be addressed immediately.

Your Mac is already protected.

 

[pjhutch]

Rapid Reponse is to do with fixing vulnerabilities, that is NOT the same as anti-malware, macs can get malware from various multi-platform, web sites, scripts and embedded in pirated software written on macs.
Macs are less common than Windows, but there are still lots of macs users and lots of users who are not-tech savy who are vulnerable to attacks. Also, just because MacOS is more secure is not the same as 100% secure, because no computer is.

You can get different products for macs including AVG, Avast, Norton 360, MS Defender, Mcafee and so on.
I would agree with the banker, and get some well known antivirus product installed for extra defence.

 

[pm-r]

I would agree with the banker, and get some well known antivirus product installed for extra defence

@pjhutch,
By all means do what you want even if it isn't very normal for a Mac User to follow their Bankers advice has what to do with their computer, but hopefully the OP will follow most of the excellent advice for some very knowledgeable and experienced Mac users.

And don't be too surprised when you have a Slowdown and Mac problems that you will be advised to remove any A-V software if you happen to ask some very experienced Mac users what might be causing your problem.

PS: I wonder what your banker's advice would be regarding using the full Mac version of Mackeeper? Maybe you might want to add using it as well.
(but I believe I read somewhere that Mackeeper.app was taken over by a new company a short time ago and isn't as ruthless or takes users money like the original versions did.) Maybe...



- Patrick
=======

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Rapid Reponse is to do with fixing vulnerabilities, that is NOT the same as anti-malware,

And when that vulnerability is already being exploited in the wild, it's usually via "malware."

I think that the citation that I gave to the TidBits article explains it all perfectly well.

macs can get malware from various multi-platform, web sites, scripts and embedded in pirated software written on macs.
Macs are less common than Windows, but there are still lots of macs users and lots of users who are not-tech savy who are vulnerable to attacks. Also, just because MacOS is more secure is not the same as 100% secure, because no computer is.

No one said that "the Macintosh is invulnerable." The question was whether a Mac user currently needs extra anti-virus software. They don't. The built-in anti-malware software is as competent as any third party software.

There *have* been examples of malware in the wild for the Macintosh (just about all of it now hardened against), though nowhere near the same number as for Windows. There are usually only about four or five new examples of malware for the Macintosh every year. (Compare that to the shocking 300,000 new pieces of malware created DAILY for Windows!)

https://techjury.net/blog/how-many-cyber-attacks-per-day/

New malware for the Mac are just about always Trojan Horses (not viruses) so they are very hard for the bad guys to successfully disseminate without being caught and put in prison. When they crop up, the source is usually shut down quickly and the Mac is hardened against them before any ordinary users are threatened.

You can get different products for macs including AVG, Avast, Norton 360, MS Defender, Mcafee and so on.

Forgive me for saying so, but you sound very much like a former Windows user who doesn't really understand that things are different for the Macintosh. Not only are some of those products not at all popular for the Macintosh, some have been shown to be ineffective in comparison tests, or worse, they contain malware or adware of their own. Most importantly, most of the fully interactive anti-virus products for the Macintosh have been implicated with nasty slowdowns. Commercial anti-virus products are more trouble than they are worth for the Macintosh.

I would agree with the banker, and get some well known antivirus product installed for extra defence.

I think that Macintosh users need to be getting their Macintosh advice from known Macintosh authorities, not from banks (who don't have the first clue about Macs) or former Windows users (ditto). I think that folks should check out the links that I gave previously, and they might also want to have a look at:

Do Macs Need Anti-Virus Software?
https://macmost.com/the-practical-guide-to-mac-security-part-9-do-you-need-anti-virus-software.html

I can give lots and lots more citations if anyone is interested. This is a topic that comes up all the time, and which I have followed closely for decades.

 

[MacInWin]

In addition to Randy's excellent post, if you go to EclecticLight.co and look for XproCheck, a free utility built by the site owner, Howard Oakley, you can see for yourself what XproCheck is checking for, and how often it checks, taken from the Unified Log. Here is a link that should take you directly to the download page and offer a download:

XProCheck 1.5 (Universal App for Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura and Sonoma)

You can read more about it here:

XProCheck, T2M2, LogUI, Ulbow and log utilities

XProCheck – check on XProtect Remediator scans completed and reported in the log Updated! Inspects the Unified log for a period of 1-30 days and reports all completed and reported anti-malwar…

eclecticlight.co

 

[Slydude]

When Safari was first introduced I ran into an interesting issue with some credit card sites. They were encouraging Mac users to use certain browsers to support higher security. Sounds great right? The problem is that they didn't support Safai at the time but did support a couple of browsers that were either already discontinued or about to be discontinued (I think Netscap0e and Internet Explorer for Mac)