How Are You Protecting Your Mac?

[nightlong]

See the Cult of Mac story today about new password-stealing malware called Wirenet.1 which can log keystrokes. At the end of the story they say check that your anti-virus software is up to date.

I became convinced after reading threads here that AV software wasn't needed and deleted mine (Sophos). Should I reinstall this? Or something else?

How are you protecting your Mac?

 

[Spink10]

can you link me to story?

 

[GGJstudios]

See the Cult of Mac story today about new password-stealing malware called Wirenet.1 which can log keystrokes. At the end of the story they say check that your anti-virus software is up to date.

I became convinced after reading threads here that AV software wasn't needed and deleted mine (Sophos). Should I reinstall this? Or something else?

How are you protecting your Mac?

Having antivirus software up to date won't help with a zero-day threat, as it doesn't know what to look for. It's not clear how Wirenet.1 is spread or installed, but practicing safe computing, combined with the built-in Mac OS X anti-malware protection is very likely a sufficient defense. For safe-computing tips, read the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ.

can you link me to story?

New Mac Malware Steals All The Passwords You Enter Into Your Browser & Logs Your Keystrokes | Cult of Mac

 

[nightlong]

i do practice safe computing and will read the guide, but i'd still like to know if people here are using antivirus software, which software, and if that causes any performance problems?

I was using Sophos, which had had a lot of good reviews, but then I read on a thread here that it causes some vulnerability (I forget how) and so I deleted it.

 

[GGJstudios]

i do practice safe computing and will read the guide, but i'd still like to know if people here are using antivirus software, which software, and if that causes any performance problems?

I was using Sophos, which had had a lot of good reviews, but then I read on a thread here that it causes some vulnerability (I forget how) and so I deleted it.

If you feel more comfortable using 3rd party antivirus, ClamXav (which is free) is one of the best choices, since it isn't a resource hog, detects both Mac and Windows malware and doesn't run with elevated privileges. You can run scans when you choose, rather than leaving it running all the time, slowing your system. ClamXav has a Sentry feature which, if enabled, will use significant system resources to constantly scan. Disable the Sentry feature. You don't need it. Also, when you first install ClamXav, as with many antivirus apps, it may perform an initial full system scan, which will consume resources. Once the initial scan is complete, periodic on-demand scans will have much lower demands on resources.

 

[K0BI]

I use Symantec Endpoint Protection. No performance issues experienced.

 

[nightlong]

thanks, i will check out both of these.

anyone else care to comment, on whether you think AV protection is necessary?

 

[nightlong]

meant to add, my only experience with AV software has been, Norton for a while years ago in dial-up internet days, i got rid of that fairly soon. Then, only recently Sophos, which did a full scan and found nothing. So when i read here several people saying they thought AV software not necessary and that Sophos actually caused some vulnerability, got rid of that.

Unless I want to download software that gatekeeper won't allow ... legit software but a developer it doesn't know, i keep the restriction on in gatekeeper and firewall enabled. And, as i don't download pirated software or visit obviously risky websites, my security may be sufficient. And I do understqnd the difference between virus and trojan, thanks to threads here.

But, Macs are being attacked more now that Apple is richer than almost anyone, and so ... I'm just checking on what others are doing about security.