Best anti virus for Mac?

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ascroft

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#312205 26-Mar-2024 11:00

Hi - what do people recommend?

I have never bothered but about to start a project where it seems to be a requirement.

Was thinking of Avast Free version - but is there anything better?

Ease of removal in due course is a consideration. :-)

common sense is not very common

MikeB4

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#3211038 26-Mar-2024 11:16

I have used Macs for decades without anti virus software without issue. However if you share a network with Windows devices it would be prudent to have anti virus software to you don't pass something on. Malwarebytes should be OK.

aseni

52 posts

Master Geek

#3211042 26-Mar-2024 11:22

Never felt the need for a full antivirus solution since I started using macOS, but CleanMyMacX has malware scanning and they now include realtime protection based on Moonlock (never heard of them, but probably as good as any other AV engines nowadays).

The good thing is that it's super easy to disable when you dont need it, and you get all the benefits from CleanMyMac...

Tockly

346 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3211070 26-Mar-2024 11:42

I have been using Sophos on my MacBook for years now. Just sits quietly in the background and has caught a couple of nasties as well.

Recommended.

michaelmurfy

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#3211080 26-Mar-2024 12:09

You don't need one - plain and simple.

Running antivirus software outside of the operating systems own mitigations actually raises your attack surface and potentially introduces more vulnerabilities. We've seen this happen in the past.

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Aaron2222

216 posts

Master Geek

#3211094 26-Mar-2024 12:38

michaelmurfy:

You don't need one - plain and simple.

Running antivirus software outside of the operating systems own mitigations actually raises your attack surface and potentially introduces more vulnerabilities. We've seen this happen in the past.

I have never bothered but about to start a project where it seems to be a requirement.

Seems like it's not up to him.

michaelmurfy

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#3211108 26-Mar-2024 12:57

@Aaron2222 perhaps, but as a security professional it’s bad advise.

For most operating systems, Windows included it actually compromises the systems own sandboxing and offers no benefit. MacOS has security built in, putting antivirus on top of this doesn’t improve security but decreases it as suddenly you’ve got an application running with kernel hooks that could itself be exploited. Running a malware scan is different as it doesn’t use kernel hooks to offer real time protection.

MacOS: https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/security/welcome/web

Windows: https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/comprehensive-security

Things have really moved on from the old days where third party antivirus was seen as a requirement.

jarledb

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#3211241 26-Mar-2024 15:58

I would never ever use Avast.

Don't like companies that spy on their customers and sell customers data without their approval.

Why we stopped recommending Avast and AVG (Apparently fixed now, but who knows what they might do in the future).

Adding my vote for CleanMyMac. It is a great tool that also includes virus scanning and blocking.

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lxsw20

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#3211266 26-Mar-2024 16:40

Microsoft Defender is pretty light weight. You get it as part of 365 family plan.

jarledb

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#3211268 26-Mar-2024 16:47

lxsw20:

Microsoft Defender is pretty light weight. You get it as part of 365 family plan.

Microsoft Defender for Mac?!

lxsw20

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#3211272 26-Mar-2024 16:58

Yeap and ios/android.

Aaron2222

216 posts

Master Geek

#3211275 26-Mar-2024 17:09

jarledb:

I would never ever use Avast.

Don't like companies that spy on their customers and sell customers data without their approval.

Why we stopped recommending Avast and AVG (Apparently fixed now, but who knows what they might do in the future).

Adding my vote for CleanMyMac. It is a great tool that also includes virus scanning and blocking.

Agreed. Avast, AVG, and Avira are also now owned by Norton, which is another one to avoid.

Aaron2222

216 posts

Master Geek

#3211329 26-Mar-2024 17:29

michaelmurfy:

@Aaron2222 perhaps, but as a security professional it’s bad advise.

Pointing out that something's a bad idea probably won't cause it to stop being a requirement. You could perhaps get somewhere with the argument that Apple's (relatively) new XProtect Remediator should count, but otherwise the choices are likely find something to install or don't work on the project.

Running antivirus software outside of the operating systems own mitigations actually raises your attack surface and potentially introduces more vulnerabilities. We've seen this happen in the past.

MacOS has security built in, putting antivirus on top of this doesn’t improve security but decreases it as suddenly you’ve got an application running with kernel hooks that could itself be exploited. Running a malware scan is different as it doesn’t use kernel hooks to offer real time protection.

Agreed about the increased attack surface. On the bright side, macOS AV products have to use the Endpoint Security API now instead of their own kernel extension for the real-time stuff. Though I disagree that a plain malware scan is necessarily much better, given that seems to often involve having a process running as root with Full Disk Access scanning and parsing a bunch of files from disk.