do you need an antivirus software for a mac

Do You Need An Antivirus Software For A Download Malware To
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Is that little-used computer in the accounts department sending a zip file in the middle of the night over the weekend Who to Why AI is helping most platform, OS, and security vendors develop monitoring systems to watch for such events.

Delivering popular Apple-related news, advice and entertainment since 1999.

Your best option is anti-virus combined with other security tactics.

Ive also lost count of how many security researchers have said that Apple devices are becoming more liable to being attacked as their market share grows.

Both are right. Both are wrong.

Related: The iPhone users guide to the WhatsApp hack attack The nature of cyber attacks is changing.

One good illustration of how the nature of these threats are changing comes in the form of the recently-revealed Intel processor vulnerability, ZombieLoad.

This flaw lets hackers use design weaknesses in Intel chips (back to 2011) to steal data from machines, including Macs.

Apple very quickly shipped security patches to protect against this vulnerability and published a detailed support document that Mac users who handle particularly sensitive data should read.

Sophisticated, devious, dangerous The important thing about ZombieLoad is that it shows how as platforms become more secure, attackers are exploring far more sophisticated ways to exploit devices.

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They seek out vulnerabilities on a component level, and they engage in highly sophisticated phishing attacks that encourage people to click links that download malware to their machines.

There have even been attempts to subvert device security before products leave the factory.

A hacker may have designed a one-off piece of malware, most likely in a standard programming language, that has only one function to subvert security in a computer and download a more malware-infested package in the background or to gather user data for a couple of weeks before sending it back to its command-and-control server in the middle of the night when no one is watching.

The complexity of such attacks makes it very difficult for existing anti-virus or anti-malware protections.

They may not even be aware of the code used in an attack which means they wont spot it.

Attackers are also finding ways to subvert things such as Wi-Fi routers and poorly secured connected homeoffice systems to penetrate networks.

The best defenses against such attacks include a combination of traditional permiter defenses, as well as Apples built-in anti-phishing tools.

What does this mean to an Apple user It means complacency is no defense.

Just because running a virus check application didnt spot anything on your device, it doesnt necessarily mean youre safe.

There are Mac malware kits available for sale on the dark web for just a few dollars.

Many dont work well, some dont work at all, but a few work a little though most of these rely on a user downloading and installing code rather than traditional virusmalware attack trajectories.

Phishing) These increasingly sophisticated attacks leave little trace and are very difficult to detect using traditional permiter protections.

Were also seeing a rapid increase in attacks against component elements of the system Check Point claims 51 of enterprises have seen attacks launched against their cloud backup systems, proving that if an attacker cant hack your iPhone or Mac, they might try to subvert your cloud storage service instead.

Modern enterprises protect themselves using complex tools from the big security vendors.

These security firms share attack data and develop monitoring systems that watch internal and externally bound network traffic in order to spot anomalies.

Do You Need An Antivirus Software For A Mac