Do we need an anti-virus/malware on the ARM Mac Silicon?

[Cham2000]

I'm about to buy a mini M2 Pro for home uses, and I'm coming straight from a very old 2010 Mac (with ... Snow Leopard !! ;-)

I'm surfing the web alot! So do I need to add some software to protect my new Mac against virus/worms/malware? If so, what would be the best free app for that?

I have the feel that such a software (which could be a memory/processor pig) isn't really necessary, if there's already some protection built-in the OS, but I don't know the state of the current/latest OSX on these matters. Any opinion/experience on this subject?

 

[Isamilis]

Use Firefox Focus or Brave for browsing. No need to have antivirus/malware. If you want to have more control, use Adguard (it’s not free anyway), but in my opinion, for security level, its more/less same with with Firefox Focus / Brave.

 

[Madhatter32]

The answer probably depends on your individual usage and internet behavior -- whether it is risky or not. Generally, if you are willing to exercise a little common sense, I would say that anti-virus software is not needed on a Mac. You prabably do not need anti-malware either with the proper browser security settings enabled. I use neither on Macs and both on Windows.

 

[sirio76]

Do we need an anti-virus/malware on the ARM Mac Silicon?​

no

 

[Cham2000]

Thanks guys!

What are Firefox Focus and Brave? Web browsers to replace Safari?

What would be the best free Safari plug-ins to efficiently block the publicity pigs on the internet?

 

[Isamilis]

Thanks guys!

What are Firefox Focus and Brave? Web browsers to replace Safari?

What would be the best free Safari plug-ins to efficiently block the publicity pigs on the internet?

Yes, they are both browser. Firefox Focus has also Safari plugin. You can also use nextdns.io to filter ad servers. It’s free as well.

 

[Cham2000]

Yes, they are both browser. Firefox Focus has also Safari plugin. You can also use nextdns.io to filter ad servers. It’s free as well.

Can these plugins be used in Safari as well? Why not using Safari itself?

 

[Isamilis]

Can these plugins be used in Safari as well? Why not using Safari itself?

Yes, the plug-in is usable by Safari. You only need install Firefox focus and activate the extension in Setting-> Safari.

Safari doesn’t have Adblock function (or perhaps it has but limited).

 

[TorbenIbsen]

Sometimes I wonder a bit about the answers you are getting. Mostly people say there are no need for antivirus. But people also say that it is important to get all the security updates (and that you therefore always have to be on the current MacOS version). - How can both be true?

So I run Bitdefender plus CleanMyMac all the time. - And if I wanted a browser other than Safari then I would use this: www.icab.de. This browser is made for Apple, so it has not been born in the PC world. This browser is Safari for nerds. Works also on iPhone and iPad.

 

[mr_roboto]

Sometimes I wonder a bit about the answers you are getting. Mostly people say there are no need for antivirus. But people also say that it is important to get all the security updates (and that you therefore always have to be on the current MacOS version). - How can both be true?

Quite easily.

They are very different things. Security updates fix flaws in the base OS which leave a door open for attackers to exploit. The worst case scenario is something along the lines of "be shown an ad on a website, and it exploits a flaw in Safari and takes over your computer". I don't think Apple has had too many of that severity, but the point is, every security update is intended to fix a flaw in macOS or the apps Apple ships with it.

Third party antivirus software does nothing to address this kind of vulnerability. It is almost all based around the idea that if the AV software scans all your files all the time, it can detect identifying signatures of viruses. There are enormous problems with this. If a new threat pops up, your AV package is blind to it until its database of signatures is updated. If viruses use known techniques to "morph" themselves - to prevent signature checking from working - scanning doesn't work.

The reason you don't need third party AV software is that even though it's not great, AV is already built into macOS (and Windows), at lower cost, with about the same effectiveness, and implemented in a much cleaner way which uses far fewer system resources.

 

[unrigestered]

Third party antivirus software does nothing to address this kind of vulnerability.

this might be true, but w/o any malware detection system, you can never be sure wether your system is truly clean, or if it had been infected / spied on for years already, unless it is one of the “you've been pwnd by the h@x0rZ gr00p! Send us $5.000 so you can use your system again!“ thingies when you will actually be informed by them, or by sudden transfers from your credit card, etc.
A/V software should be able to find most of that rather soon, but of course 0 days will likely stay undetected if you happen to be one of the first to have found those… but if you're not one of the first, an A/V with daily updated signature definitions might still protect you earlier than Apple fixing security holes only when they deem them worthy

 

[maflynn]

No matter how you slice it, the Macs are subject and targets of malware. We all talk about how smart computing can avoid the majority of the malware, well, what about that minority or that maybe a slip of judgement and clicking on a link or mindlessly clicking on install that you thought was safe.

I think overall, the risk of not having antivirus/antimalware software is too great.

 

[unrigestered]

personally, apart from macOS's built in protection, i'm only using KnockKnock occasionally for offline scans, but as far as i know, it is only looking for suspicious launch items and kernel extensions, so malicious files like applications or documents still won't be detected.

when i'm getting new files, i'm usually scanning them on virustotal first though

 

[AlphaCentauri]

Nope as for Antivirus, however malware can be a thing, so something like Malwarebytes is useful.

 

[bobcomer]

No matter how you slice it, the Macs are subject and targets of malware. We all talk about how smart computing can avoid the majority of the malware, well, what about that minority or that maybe a slip of judgement and clicking on a link or mindlessly clicking on install that you thought was safe.

I think overall, the risk of not having antivirus/antimalware software is too great.

I second that.

 

[bogdanw]

Objective-See's Blog - "The Mac Malware of 2022 👾 A comprehensive analysis of the year's new malware"
https://objective-see.org/blog/blog_0x71.html
direct link for the printable (PDF) version https://objective-see.org/downloads/MacMalware_2022.pdf
SysJoker "A simple cross-platform backdoor supporting download and execute capabilities."
"The arm64 build ensures the malware can run natively on Apple Silicon (M1/M2)."

 

[JouniS]

Do you assume that Apple cares about security and that their engineers are competent? If so, the logical conclusion is that the built-in protections are good enough for most users.

The primary purpose of using third-party virus/malware scanners and similar tools on end-user devices is complying with administrative requirements. If you don't have such requirements, the random issues caused by such tools probably outweight the security benefits, unless your habits are particularly risky.

 

[Technerd108]

To answer your question the answer is No.

The reason is that there are very few of any virili that can install on a Unix system without user interaction unlike Windows.

The Unix base is very different from Windows and anything that wants to run on a Mac needs to ask permission first. On top of that most apps that contain Malware would get flagged before installing.

Are there MacOS viruses in the wild? Yes. There might even be a few that can self install but I have yet to hear of one such virus infecting a bunch of Mac's and causing widespread damage.

More dangerous are Trojans and other such malware that will redirect your browser to a spoof site and steal your information or get a backdoor once user is tricked into installing.

Most Mac malware uses some type of trick to get the user to install something by saying things like your Mac is infected when it isn't.

Use the firewall built into the OS. Don't go to torrent sites or sites where they play/stream copyright material for free. Avoid sketchy websites in general and don't click on links sent by email unless you know the sender and trust the link.

If you are skeptical about everything presented to you in websites, pop ups, and email/texts and verify by always going to the website yourself you will be protected.

There is always a risk using any computer connected to the web. That being said Linux and Unix based computers are much safer by default and design.

 

[DC41]

I bought a 3 Device license for Malwarebytes for the two PCs in the house. I had the extra install, so I decided to put it on my M1 MacBook Pro Max. I've noticed no hit to performance. The browser plugin scans for ads, trackers, malware, and scams (although I think it's free so you don't need a subscription to use it).

In the year that I've had it it hasn't once found anything on my machine or anything trying to get on my machine. The browser plug-in has advised me a few times to not proceed to the page I was trying to load. Sometimes I've stopped. Some I've investigated further and found Malwarebytes warnings were false-positives.

Will I keep it? Yes, it's essentially free and, it's lightweight. If it saves me once, it'll be worth it. A family member had cancer, but it was caught VERY early (yearly mammogram) and removed successfully. Doctors said all things considered she had a 20% chance of relapse, but if she underwent radiation therapy, the chance of a relapse went to 5%. We decided we wanted that extra 15% and did the radiation!

Same with Macs and Malware and other digital nasties. You're probably safe, but ask yourself if you want that 15%.

HTH

 

[spiderman0616]

I haven't used either in years, and didn't change that habit when Apple Silicon came. I haven't had any issues. macOS built in security plus my secure network pretty much keeps everything out. I probably do a bit more than the average person to lock things down, but I doubt it's really necessary.