Apps promise to protect your phone from viruses and malware, but with built-in iPhone security measures, you may not need them. The post iPhone Security: Does an iPhone Need Antivirus Software.
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In this guide, we'll explain these steps in more detail. We'll also explain why you need antivirus software, what it does, how much it costs, and the differences between free, basic, and premium. Every Mac user should have one of the best Mac antivirus programs on their machine, even if that program is free. That's because Apple can no longer make the dubious claim that Macs never get. Like Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) and Lion (OS X 10.7) before it, OS X 10.9 Mavericks is as easy to install as downloading an installer from the Mac App Store and double-clicking. But there are still. Mavericks (OS X 10.9) is available only as a direct download from Apple’s Mac App Store. This method of distribution is convenient, but it’s not without challenges and questions.
The old adage goes that Macs can’t get viruses, so why would you bother downloading, let alone paying for, antivirus software? We have a few reasons.
No computer is immune from cyberattacks, so each year Which? tests Mac antivirus software to their limits with hundreds of virus attacks including worms and ransomware to see how they fare. Read on to see your protection options.
Browse all our antivirus software reviews, or skip straight to the best antivirus packages from our tough tests.
Built-in Mac security
While the adage mentioned above isn’t strictly true, it is fair to say that there aren’t many viruses for Mac computers, which makes them hard to come by. Our lab tests Windows antivirus software with several thousand Windows-specific viruses each year, but tests only a few dozen on Mac computers. That isn’t to say that it’s impossible to catch a Mac virus, but the number of different strains is much smaller.
There are two ways MacOS looks to defend against malware:
- XProtect This is a detection tool built in to macOS that is kept up-to-date with the very latest virus ‘signatures’. Signatures are telltale signs that a file is in fact a malicious virus, and means it doesn’t need to be intensively scanned to work out that it’s harmful. XProtect is kept up-to-date independently of system updates, so you won’t need to restart your Mac to get the latest signatures. If XProtect detects you’ve downloaded malware, it will let you know and move the file straight into the Bin.
- Malware Removal Tool This automatic tool will get rid of malware that hasn’t been picked up by XProtect and, if you have automatic security updates switched on (we recommend you do), will get rid of files that are malicious.
Apple also treats software downloaded from the web differently to software downloaded from its own App Store.
Indeed, macOS is pretty explicit about apps that haven’t been authenticated (signed by a registered developer and notarised by Apple). Whenever you download a program from the web, you’ll be presented with a warning to remind you that it won’t have gone through Apple’s checks. While this doesn’t necessarily mean a program will contain viruses, not being checked by Apple also means that the software won’t have gone through basic privacy and reliability checks, either.
If your Mac has completely blocked you from opening an app because it isn’t signed or notarised, you might want to think twice about opening it. But Apple does allow you to do so via the Security & Privacy menu within the Settings app.
If you stay within Apple’s walled garden, you’ll decrease your chances of picking up malware.
Why you should still consider antivirus for Mac
Even if you don’t let a piece of malware run, we have found that macOS’ built-in security scanning doesn’t always detect dormant viruses just sitting on the hard drive. If you never had any intention of running the viruses yourself, you could inadvertently share them with somebody you know who might not be so fortunate.
And there’s more to antivirus than simply protection from viruses. Almost all the security suites we test come with additional protection against phishing attacks, where websites pretend to be legit in order to steal your data. We have found that the very best Mac security suites will also bolster your phishing protection quite significantly, and perform better than the protection built in to the Mac versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera web browsers.
For this reason, if you’re nervous about threats on the web, it would make sense to at least consider a Mac security suite.
Wondering about VPNs? Read our VPN reviews to see which one is right for you.
Antivirus options for Apple Macs
While there’s no cheap way to get yourself a Mac, those who don’t fancy a yearly subscription to a security suite can rest easy in the knowledge that this year we tested two free options – and while neither are Best Buys, one of them was perfectly acceptable.
If you’re a Which? member, you can see the very best antivirus options on our best antivirus for Mac advice guide. And for everybody else, we’ve highlighted five options from the biggest brands.
Paid antivirus for Mac
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Norton Security Deluxe
One of the biggest names in antivirus has a relatively inexpensive Mac option. What’s more, if you have Windows computers in your household you can mix and match the different device types under the same subscription. Subscribing gets you various other benefits, although some, such as the 50GB of cloud storage, is only available for Windows computers. See whether it’s worth paying for in our Norton Security Deluxe for Mac review.
Kaspersky Internet Security
Kaspersky’s security suite includes basic protection as well as tools specifically designed to protect your files from ransomware and a bolstered web browser for banking. Like Norton, you can mix and match a Kaspersky multi-device Internet Security subscription between Windows and Macs. See if it’s worth the cost in our full Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac review.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac
Bitdefender comes with phishing protection and a VPN for keeping your web browsing safe from prying eyes, but can this AV production take on its big-brand rivals? It’s performed well in our tests in previous years, so read our full Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac review to find out.
Free antivirus for Mac
This relatively simple piece of software comes with live virus protection, virus scanning and a piece of VPN software. While it won’t set pulses racing with its features, for many this will be a plus point, with no unwanted bloat. That said, the software doesn’t feature any phishing protection, either, which seems like a strange omission. See how it did in our lab tests in our Avira Free Security Suite for Mac review.
AVG Antivirus for Mac (free)
If you don’t want extra features and also don’t fancy shelling out for yet another digital subscription, AVG Free might be the option for you. There are no frills, but it should deliver when it comes to basic protection, adding that last layer of defense for when all else fails. See how it fared in our antivirus lab by reading the full AVG Antivirus for Mac review.
Avira Free Security Suite for Mac
How we test antivirus
Our antivirus test lab is riddled with threats. It has set up dozens of computers in 40 countries around the world to act as ‘honeypots’ for millions of viruses. These honeypots capture viruses that are fresh into the wild and may have only existed for days. This makes the task for the security software very challenging, because many of them rely upon huge databases of so-called virus ‘definitions’ to tell whether or not a file is harmful.
Grabbing new threats means they will also have to rely on their own intuition – rather than simply checking a database – using more advanced techniques to decide if there’s a threat. We also use a mix of scenarios on both Windows and macOS, including viruses stored on USB sticks, and even malicious real-world phishing webpages designed to steal your data. Only the most secure software can fend off all these types of attacks effectively.
Malware can be more of a concern if you’re using an old phone. Read our guide on mobile phone security for more.
You may have been led to believe that you don’t have to worry about computer viruses on your Mac. And, to some extent, there’s truth to that. While your Mac can definitely be infected with malware, Apple’s built-in malware detection and file quarantine capabilities are meant to make it less likely that you’ll download and run malicious software.
Apple introduced malware detection to the Mac OS with Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6). This system consists of the quarantine of any app downloaded from the Internet, the use of Code Signing certificates to verify that an app is coming from a legit source, and regular security updates that include databases of known malware targeting the Mac OS.
Because of this system, called File Quarantine and occasionally referred to as XProtect:
Apps in quarantine display a dialog window reminding you where the app came from and asking whether or not you’re sure you want to open it.
Apps with no code signing certificate, depending on your Gatekeeper settings, may display a message saying the app can’t be opened because of your settings. (For software you know is good you can bypass this by control-clicking the app and selecting Open from the resulting contextual menu.)
Apps that are known malware cannot be opened at all. You’ll be met with a message offering the option to toss the app in the trash.
And this is why Macs remain mostly virus and malware free.
To make sure your Mac malware database is always up to date you’ll want to verify that your Mac always automatically installs security updates and related system data files.
To do this:
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- Open System Preferences
- Open the App Store preference
- Make sure that Automatically check for updates and Install system data files and security updates are checked.
This should keep your Mac free from most malicious software, although it’s important to note that it does not make it impossible for malicious software to be installed on your Mac. There is no software that’s able to catch everything. If new malware is released today and you download and run it today you will have done so before Apple’s databases could have been updated. So it’s always best to be wise when downloading software from unknown sources.
While it’s unlikely that your Mac will run any malware, there is possibly a more pernicious issue: You Mac could become the Typhoid Mary of Windows viruses, which is to say, you could be harboring viruses on your Mac that won’t effect you, but can be problems for Windows users.
Think I’m joking? Have a look at this screenshot, taken from my Mac during the course of writing this column:
That, my friends, is a list of 30 potentially bad things that…you guessed it, were found on my Mac while I was running a test virus scan, one of which is a Windows virus. And, nope, I did not plan this, even though I did plan to write about this problem.
So, how do you keep your Mac from relaying Windows viruses to Windows users?
ClamXav.
Why ClamXav? Because it has one job and it does it very well. It’s not too intrusive. It doesn’t try to do too much. If you’re using Apple’s Server app to host your email, it’s what Apple uses to scan incoming mail for viruses.
ClamXav is, like AdWare Medic, donationware and it is fantastic. You’ll find it at the Mac App Store or you can download it directly from the ClamXav Website, where you can also make a donation.
Once you’ve downloaded and opened the app you’ll want to set the app’s preferences, as the default behavior is to scan for viruses but not delete or quarantine them. ClamXav offers five configuration options:
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- General: For setting up alerts and whether or not to scan for malware and phishing in your email messages (which is where the app found infected files on my Mac)
- Quarantine: For defining where you want to quarantine malicious files
- Exclude Files: To specify file types you don’t want scanned
- Log Files: For setting whether or not you want log files stored and for viewing them
- Schedule: For defining when you want the latest virus definitions downloaded and when you want scheduled scans to take place
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Once you’ve finished your setup, click the Start Scan button and go grab some milk and cookies. Scanning may take awhile, but when it’s done you’ll know for sure your Mac is clean.