Hi,
I am getting my new MacBook Air with the new M1 chip very soon and wanted to check if ...
a) I need a malware/anti-virus program and
b) if there is already one out there running natively on the new M1 machines?
any recommendations?
thank you very much
martin.
Yes, malware, adware, scareware, and ransomware is out there in the wild attacking Macs. Most of it is not terribly dangerous but more annoying. Mac's are not immune to these threats but if you observe common sense safe practices it is unlikely to be a problem.
Exercising some caution in regards to phishing emails and text / social media messages as well as noticing those pop-up advertisements that attempt to convince you that you are infected and to install fake anti-malware tools, etc. goes a long way to protecting you. The rest is a matter of the following:
[Edited by Moderator]
"also preference files that caused Chrome" - Huge red flag. Expecting Apple to fully be able to protect you while using one of the worlds prominent pieces of spyware is a conflict of interest.
Sorry, but EvilQuest has a virus component to it, as well as Trojans.
Hac-D-Mac wrote:
I believe he said he was looking for a native solution not a naive one. All computers need protection. Bitdefender has been consistently the best for years on both Win and Mac platforms. I’m still waiting on a native version myself.
The OP first asked if 3rd party virus protection was necessary. It is not, which renders the issue of native versions of it moot. If you wish to waste your money on something unnecessary, you are obviously welcome to do so.
This is like the Left Twix vs. Right Twix debate. People swear by antivirus software for Macs and have no trouble with viruses. People don’t use antivirus software and have no trouble with viruses.
Apple builds ample security and protection into macOS, but for most people that’s really not a factor in whether or not you give Apple your money.
Antivirus software makers highlight all the ‘threats’ that exist, and they depend mostly on your fear to earn their money. Because fear doesn’t always work, they cut deals with Apple resellers to bundle ‘free’ antivirus software with Macs (free...for a while — just enter your credit card info, you can cancel at any time, we’re sure most of you will forget to cancel though mwaa-haa-haa).
You can believe who you choose.
Pretty simple: 1) Use native Mac OS security features. 2) Don't open files that come from unknown sources. 3) Don't go to sketchy web sites and click on unknown links. By not doing stupid things, you will not get infected. Sound familiar? Stupid is as Stupid does.
Again, malware doesn’t just show up on your computer. You, the user, must allow it to be installed because of inattention to what is going on. The user gets a pop-up or an offer of free software or service and blindly clicks the link. Boom! Malware installed.
Hi Ikrupp!
I think human error is the best reason I can think of to install security software on a Mac. Especially if you're non-technical, distracted or just taken in by an especially cunning attack.
It's to easy to do, certainly in my case!
I use 1Blocker on iOS/iPadOS and on mobile Mac's when I can't VPN to my own networks which have either open-source or commercial solutions to filter DNS queries on the network.
I run Pi-hole for my entire network at home and for some clients small business operations. It acts as your DNS server and blackholes advertising and tracking sites. You can add blocklists and manually whitelist / blacklist anything. You then tell your router's DHCP to issue the pi-hole IP address as your DNS server instead of your ISP. All devices will receive the configuration when they renew their IP address. The Pi-hole will forward DNS queries to an upstream DNS provider such as Cloudflare or others you can choose from. It could be installed on a low cost RaspberryPi which is what it was originally designed for. But it runs very well inside a container or as a virtual machine. You can run it on a NAS such as Synology or TruNAS/FreeNAS or any other system that can run private cloud containers. It is not terribly complicated to setup and get going. It provides a web page console to manage it.
I had much better success (Windows and Apple) with Malwarebytes, over Bitdefender. Specific to my Mac, I tried both and in the end simply chose not to use either. When you look carefully at what Apple has already built in to macOS, for protection, you arrive at the conclusion that 3rd party solutions bring nothing to the party but additional overhead and system slowdown.
Here is a good video on the topic: https://youtu.be/Dhl9_P8uBw0
Afraid that the product will do evil things on the system that people are trying to convince everyone will protect them from having anything evil happen on their Mac.
Nice thought but Not evenly remotely true.
https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-viruses-list-3668354/
no need, macOS manages your system better than any third party application would.
Apple M1 Chip - native Malware/Anti-Virus App
