how can I protect my mac book pro from viruses?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.7
Your Mac requires no third-party anti-virus software.
Apple has built the XProtect anti-virus into macOS and keeps it updated regularly.
Who better know’s how to protect your Mac and macOS than Apple?
Apple Platform Security - Apple Support
Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support
Apple Personal Safety User Guide - Apple Support
JaneM44 wrote:
how can I protect my mac book pro from viruses?
Lately, we are the target. Less so our gear.
Phishing.
Scams. Scam support providers. Scams delivered by Google AI results and Google search results.
Alarm fatigue.
Credential Stuffing and password re-use and compromised passwords.
Failure to use two-factor authentication.
Clickfix and sextortions and other junk.
The ever-popular having-no-backups, too. The only way ro mark data as valuable is with backups, and backups can be a big part of remediating a breach. Yes, backups are a part of your security.
Less so is our hardware and software gear getting targeted, as that is harder to hack. We ourselves are just easier to hack. Efforts to hack us which will include advertisers using words like “virus” and “virus scan” and “virus found!”, and the ever-popular “hacker!” Some of the advertised security products have collected and sold our personally-identified web browsing and web purchasing details, too. Because some of the add-in anti-malware apps and providers and pinky-promise VPNs are themselves all too sketchy-looking.
Some related account security info: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250009089
Keep the OS up to date for that model, and avoid downloading software from sources other than the App Store or the developer websites.
(263026)
Maybe the better question is, "How do I protect my Mac from useless anti-virus software?"
All such aftermarket "protection" will impose performance and stability penalties on a Mac. They interfere with some amazing security technology that Apple instituted in 2019 and has continues to refine. This is the overview of that technology:
There are no viruses that affect macOS. Please read Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.
How to protect MacBook Pro from viruses?
