Jun 10, 2016 A phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender 'anti-virus' software to solve the issue. Dubbed “MacDownloader,” it was malicious software hiding in a fake Adobe Flash update. The MacDownloader malware was a form of spyware that attempted to steal personal data, including the user’s keychain, which stores usernames, passwords, PINs, credit card numbers, and more. Macro viruses on Macs. Jul 15, 2011 Trying to uninstall a program, but the computer says it's still running, and I can't find it to shut it down so I can get rid of it. What do I do? I was trying to uninstall a program that snuck in while I was tryinh to activate my Nook.
According to a report from Malwarebytes on Tuesday, the number of malware threats detected on Mac endpoints outpaced those targeting Windows PCs for the first time in 2019, with adware accounting for a bulk of all detected threats.
Jun 29, 2020 The iOS platform got its first official anti-virus program when VirusBarrier went on sale in the App Store, but this anti-virus program is for checking files that may be uploaded to your Mac or PC. McAfee Security runs on the iPad, but it simply locks your files in a secure 'vault,' it doesn't detect or clean 'viruses.' Aug 30, 2011 Odds are heavily stacked against your Mac having a virus, since none currently exist. There are other forms of malware that can infect a Mac such as Trojans. The best tool to prevent them is located between your ears. The reason is that a Trojan must trick you into allowing it.
In its annual State of Malware Report (PDF link), antivirus software maker Malwarebytes tracked a more than 400% increase in detected Mac malware on a year-over-year basis.
Tallying up threat detections on a per endpoint basis, calculus applied to account for growth in the number of Macs running Malwarebytes software, the firm found 11 threats per Mac endpoint in 2019, up from 4.8 in 2018. By comparison, results show an average of 5.8 threats detected per Windows endpoint over the same period.
The report speculates Macs are quickly becoming a sweet target for cybercriminals due to increased marketshare, though recent industry estimates show Apple's slice of market shrank over the past two quarters.
Perhaps more likely is a notable increase in fringe software. Malwarebytes notes Apple's standard macOS security safeguards are more focused on thwarting serious malware than 'borderline' adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), allowing the latter two families to propagate at speed.
'Macs differ drastically from Windows in terms of the types of threats seen,' the report reads. 'Where we found several different categories and families in our top detections of Windows threats that classify as traditional malware , especially those aimed at businesses, most Mac threats, and certainly the most prevalent ones of 2019, are families of adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).'
Indeed, the most prevalent Mac threat, NewTab, is a particularly insidious family of adware that was detected nearly 30 million times in 2019. PCVARK, a PUP that took third place on cross-platform detections, ranked second in the Mac category with almost as many detections as NewTab during the same period.
Mac Thinks App Is A Virus Free
MacKeeper, an infamous system 'cleaning' program that was previously No. 1 on Malwarebytes' list of top Mac detections, fell to the third spot, while fellow PUPs JDI and MacBooster took fourth and fifth, respectively.
The top 'traditional malware,' sometimes defined as a backdoor, cryptominer or spyware, was OSX.Generic.Suspicious, a group of files that exhibited similar malicious behavior. OSX.Generic.Suspicious and scam-enabling software FakeFileOpener both topped 300,000 detections in 2019.
Search Baron Virus On Mac
Despite the growing number of malware detections, at least as discovered on Malwarebytes' platform, Mac is still a safe environment as long as users remain conscious of bad actors. As noted in the report, all but one malware incident in 2019 involved duping users into downloading and opening offending software. The lone vulnerability that impacted Mac, according to Malwarebytes, was a Firefox zeroday targeting cryptocurrency companies.
![Mac thinks app is a virus free Mac thinks app is a virus free](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126337498/646780930.jpg)
Do Macs Need Virus Protection
AppleInsider has affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content.