Do I need an antivirus for my Mac OSX?
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Some say that we don’t really need to have antivirus software installed on our Mac simply because there is no way for a Mac to get virus.
Is this true or false?
After all, a safe environment from viruses is one reason why people generally switch from using the PC to Mac. From my research, I found that even Mac OS users can get viruses on their machine if one does not practice safe browsing, opens every single email attachments, or surf malicious sites.
Although there are fewer viruses written specifically to target the Macintosh OS, Mac viruses do exist. Cross-platfrom threats, such as many of the Office macro viruses, can also be a problem for Mac users. Because of this vulnerability, security companies have developed anti viruses for Mac users. As usual there are free and open source anti virus as well as those which you need to pay. The following is a list I’ve compiled:
Free and open source antivirus for Mac
- ClamXav - ClamXav is a free virus checker for Mac OS X. It uses the tried, tested and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.
- MPP Free Edition 1.2.113 – MPP Free Edition is a high performance application that provides virus and spam protection with ClamAV and SpamAssassin, with GUI management, optional end-user review of virus and spam quarantines and many extras like email signatures, max file size limits, extnstion bloking and more. Think of the MPP Free Edition as an ultra-fast alternative to open source tools such as MailScanner or AmavisD, with great GUI management, user-friendly installation for most Linux distributions, Mac OS X and FreeBSD, complete documentation and management. MPP requires no compiling or Perl expertise.
Not free antivirus for Mac
- Virus Barrier – VirusBarrier X5 protects your Mac from viruses by constantly examining all the files that your computer reads and writes, as well as watching for suspicious activity that may be the sign of viruses acting on applications or other files. With VirusBarrier X5 on your computer, you can rest assured that your Macintosh has the best protection available against viruses of all kinds.
- PC Tools iAntiVirus – With PC Tools iAntiVirus you are protected against the most nefarious cyber-threats attempting to gain access to your Mac and personal information. It also provides real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your Mac remains safe and virus free.
- Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac – provides integrated cross-platform virus detection on Macintosh servers, desktops and laptops. The powerful Sophos virus detection engine scans all entry points, and also detects non-Mac viruses that could be harbored on Mac computers.
Updated 11 June 2009
Below is a video on how viruses can be created for Mac. I’m not sure if it does any real harm to a Mac, but it looks capable of disrupting our work, etc.
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7 Responses to 'Do I need an antivirus for my Mac OSX?'
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PC Tools iAntiVirus you are protected against the most nefarious cyber-threats attempting to gain access to your Mac and personal information.
Once your computer has been infected, a virus or worm will usually attempt to spread itself to your friends, family and associates by accessing your email contacts and networked PCs. The infection may also allow hackers to access files on your Mac, use it to launch attacks against other computers and websites or to send mass SPAM email.
iAntivirus offers a free edition for private use now. It can be downloaded from iAntivirus.com. Note that iAntivirus for Mac only targets Mac-specific threats and will NOT protect you from passing on Windows viruses harbored on your computer (e.g. email attachments).
Да уж… Тут как в пословице: Аппетит приходит во время еды
Would be nice if the article was dated. Also, description of each seems like it was taken from a sales ad. This does not help anyone to evaluate which program would be best for them. With very little disk space and infection possible, analysis of each program in depth would be better. And, while I understand that not everyone speaks English, it does no good to include languages one cannot read.
“From my research, I found that even Mac OS users can get viruses on their machine if one does not practice safe browsing, opens every single email attachments, or surf malicious sites.”
Really? What “research” was that? As there has never been a Mac OS X virus, ever, I find it hard to believe that your research found any such thing.
Philip,
Thanks for leaving comments on my site.
My “research” was just a simple Internet research where I looked through forums, sites, blogs such as some claims made by Mac Security Specialists – Intego. This is one link about how Apple recognizes virus and malware threat to Mac OS X.
http://www.intego.com/news/apple-recognizes-virus-and-malware-threat-to-mac-os-x.asp
While Intego made this claim, another blogger mentioned about Intego exaggerating Mac virus threat, misinterpreting Apple PR to scare you into buying their anti-virus package
http://webkeeps.com/wordpress/2009/06/10/intego-exaggerates-mac-virus-threat-misinterprets-apple-pr-to-scare-you-into-buying-their-anti-virus-package/
All these years, I have never personally seen a Mac virus in action. But my understanding of a virus is that it’s an application designed to alter and change how an OS would normally work. The bottom line, these applications cause havoc, waste valuable time and disrupt our daily computing.
Today, I found out about this virus called the Newton Virus. See video above. Although it’s not meant to harm the machine in any way but rather just for fun, it proves that viruses can be created to harm and disrupt normal usage.
I think one key reason why people go for a Mac is because of better security and less disruption to work as compared to a Windows PC. Let’s hope viruses wont become a common problem for Macs anytime soon.
Naw, if you’re smart enough to buy a Mac, you’ll be smart enough not to open a stupid email attachment. And it’s 0.0000009% possibility virus on a Mac..
MAC ROCKS!