The impression that Mac computers were immune to being infected with any type of malware or malicious software became widespread thanks to a commercial aired in the United States and other English-speaking countries between 2002 and 2006. And, basically it was an advertisement in which its protagonists claimed that the viruses were for ordinary computers and not for Macs.
However, cybersecurity firms have shown through recent studies that:
“The number of attacks on macOS users via malicious and potentially unwanted programs has increased annually since 2012, and in 2018 exceeded 4 million. During the first half of 2019, 1.8 million such cyber threats were recorded.”
According to Gustavo Cols, the firm’s sales director for Latin America, comments that:
“The idea that a Mac is invulnerable is absolutely a myth. The reality is that there are fewer of these computers on the market than Windows-based computers, so the prospect of effectiveness that a cybercriminal can achieve by designing malware for a Mac can be much smaller and more expensive.
What are the biggest threats to Macs?
Most of the threats that have emerged during 2019 are in the AdWare category, according to the report presented. how to recognize it? This malicious software can be identified by excessive misleading or unwanted advertising on your computer. According to the report:
“The Shlayer Trojan (virus masquerading as legitimate software), which masquerades as Adobe Flash Player or an update, has been more prevalent.”
In addition, the report evidenced that during the first half of 2019 there were almost 6 million phishing attacks (mechanism to obtain passwords) on macOS. Of which 11.8 percent went to corporate users.
For its part, Apple claims that the internal development of its products is sufficient to protect users. And, that even all their computers have:
“An integrated antivirus software responsible for blocking and removing malware.”
However, the problem is that hackers update themselves in order to be able to design new ways to breach systems.
Finally, you should keep in mind that if you consider that buying antivirus software for your computer is a very high investment, apart from the one you have already made with your equipment, experts say that: “No operating system is one hundred percent secure”.
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