It was once a widely held belief among Apple enthusiasts that macOS (or OSX as it was then known) was a far more secure system than its Windows or Linux counterparts. Malware outbreaks were rarely heard of, and most legacy AV solutions were known more for their high rate of false positives and greedy consumption of resources than they were for preventing any real adversaries. Asked 'do you really need antivirus software for macOS'? about the only reason Mac users would say 'yes' would be to catch Windows-based malware in email attachments. Why? In the words of this forum poster, as a public service to the unfortunate!
macOS Security By Design?
All that began to change from 2011 onwards, a fact reflected by Apple's increasing hardening of the OS. In every release of macOS since then, we've seen the introduction of more security technologies and a locking down of the system: Gatekeeper, codesigning, Xprotect, Malware Removal Tools and more. With the release of macOS Mojave this year, Apple once again introduced new security features in response to the evolving threatscape facing the platform, restricting Apple Events and hardening user data protections.
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Apple, of course, should be commended for taking security seriously, something even they are aware that their users often do not. Apple says that macOS 'provides security by design' and
includes the key security technologies that an IT professional needs to protect corporate data and integrate within secure enterprise networking environments That night (early prototype) mac os.
The company are proud of their security posture, and are keen for customers to feel reassured that safety is a top concern: Nasticity 0.13 mac os.
macOS system security is designed so that both software and hardware are secure across all core components of every Mac. This architecture is central to security in macOS, and never gets in the way of device usability.
Fantastic. It's just what you want to hear from your OS vendor.
Except, it's all a bit of a myth.
As it turns out, malware can easily defeat macOS security protections. Let's take a quick look at the main reasons why relying solely on Apple's built-in protections is dangerous for your business.
Application Security
You've probably got Gatekeeper turned on even if you don't know it. It comes enabled by default to allow you to download and run applications that are either from Apple's App Store or Identified Developers (in other words, developers who are part of Apple's Developer program).
Gatekeeper is great, except for one thing: it's only protecting one gate: downloads that come in through GUI apps like Safari, Mail and so on. But there's a few other gates that malware can use that Gatekeeper is blind to, like curl, ssh, and package managers such as brew. Download something through these channels, and Gatekeeper will never know. Note line 13 in this typical adware installer script, which bypasses Gatekeeper with ease:
You have likely heard of XProtect, and some may think that XProtect will plug the holes left open by Gatekeeper, but that's not the case. XProtect relies on Gatekeeper to tag downloads with a special attribute or 'quarantine bit' which effectively says to XProtect: 'be sure to check this against your malware signatures'. Without that attribute, XProtect doesn't kick in. What's worse, even software that is tagged with this special quarantine bit can be unquarantined by any other process without elevated permissions. In short, one piece of malware can let in any other piece of malware, too. Even if Apple have revoked a rogue Developer ID, such as occurs when malware strikes from the App Store, removing the quarantine bit will still allow that malware to run.
And then there's the paucity of XProtect's 'Yara' based rules. At last count, XProtect had less than 100 malware signatures. Although there was a minor bump in October of 2018, it hasn't had a significant update since March 2018.
There's also the transparency of XProtect's 'Yara' based rules. Any malware author can see exactly how Apple are detecting their binary and change it accordingly, so the rules can become invalid as soon as they are pushed out to users.
There's a third level of App Security built-in to macOS that is not so widely known called MRT, the Malware Removal Tool. According to Apple, in the event that malware should
make its way onto a Mac, macOS also includes technology to remediate infections
Mac Os Virus Scan
But there's two problems with Apple's malware removal tool which make malware unafraid of it: first, it's based on hard-coded paths, and most malware will use random or changing path names; second, it only runs once each boot.
By that time, a malware infection may have come and gone, taking your data with it, or encrypting it and leaving you a nice ransom note.
Access Control
Defeating The Virus Mac Os Catalina
Central to access control on modern Macs is System Integrity Protection or 'SIP', aka 'rootless', which prevents malware from attacking system files. SIP is enabled by default, and it means that even the root user cannot modify or delete any files under its protection. In macOS Mojave, SIP can even be extended to 3rd party apps if they opt-in to the new hardened runtime.
SIP is an essential technology, but SIP bypasses are not unknown. It's also worth noting that if you have legacy AV software that simply whitelists everything in the /System/Library folder, you could be in for a shock, since not everything in there is actually protected by SIP. The following are all excluded from 'rootless' protection:
Another core aspect of access control is kernel security. As Apple have themselves noted, kernel security is essential to the security of the entire operating system. Unfortunately, their recognition of that is undermined by the fact that any unprivileged user can approve installing new kernel extensions. Combined with security holes that allow processes to simulate user clicks, therein lies an open door for malware. Apple have made several attempts to lock down simulated user clicking in the past, only for new 0day exploits to appear that have bypassed them.
If you're using a Mac that's enrolled in Apple's Device Enrollment Program, you will be familiar with MDM and Config profiles as a means of controlling access to applications, services and preferences. Malware authors are also aware of them, and have taken to slipping managed preferences onto user's machines to control and reset things like Safari preferences. Adware like Chill Tab and MyShopcoupon have been plaguing macOS users since mid-2017 through this same mechanism.
Apple Bugs
Arguably, these are becoming more common, or at least more widely publicised, as Apple pushes the limits of quality assurance in trying to keep up with its self-imposed annual update cycle. First, High Sierra and then Mojave introduced embarrassing bugs that could have given malware open season to infect and exploit macOS users.
Do You Really Need AV software on macOS?
We hope that the answer to this is self-evident by now. The built-in protections are 'nice to have', but they do not really address the complexity or sophistication of modern malware, especially when combined with Apple's determination to rush out a minimally-tested new version of the entire OS every 12 months.
If you have endpoints running macOS, you need a security solution that does more than scan a few static signatures and prevent downloads from one or two different sources. You need a solution that has defence in-depth: a modern Next-Gen solution like SentinelOne that uses machine learning to automate detection across your entire network, regardless of whether the endpoint is running macOS, Windows or Linux.
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We design Mac hardware and software with advanced technologies that work together to run apps more securely, protect your data, and help keep you safe on the web. And with macOS Big Sur available as a free upgrade, it's easy to get the most secure version of macOS for your Mac.*
Apple M1 chip.
A shared architecture for security.
The Apple M1 chip with built-in Secure Enclave brings the same powerful security capabilities of iPhone to Mac — protecting your login password, automatically encrypting your data, and powering file-level encryption so you stay safe. And the Apple M1 chip keeps macOS secure while it's running, just as iOS has protected iPhone for years.
Apple helps you keep your Mac secure with software updates.
The best way to keep your Mac secure is to run the latest software. When new updates are available, macOS sends you a notification — or you can opt in to have updates installed automatically when your Mac is not in use. macOS checks for new updates every day and starts applying them in the background, so it's easier and faster than ever to always have the latest and safest version.
Protection starts at the core.
The technically sophisticated runtime protections in macOS work at the very core of your Mac to keep your system safe from malware. This starts with state-of-the-art antivirus software built in to block and remove malware. Technologies like XD (execute disable), ASLR (address space layout randomization), and SIP (system integrity protection) make it difficult for malware to do harm, and they ensure that processes with root permission cannot change critical system files.
Download apps safely from the Mac App Store. And the internet.
Now apps from both the App Store and the internet can be installed worry-free. App Review makes sure each app in the App Store is reviewed before it's accepted. Gatekeeper on your Mac ensures that all apps from the internet have already been checked by Apple for known malicious code — before you run them the first time. If there's ever a problem with an app, Apple can quickly stop new installations and even block the app from launching again.
Stay in control of what data apps can access.
Apps need your permission to access files in your Documents, Downloads, and Desktop folders as well as in iCloud Drive and external volumes. And you'll be prompted before any app can access the camera or mic, capture keyboard activity, or take a photo or video of your screen.
FileVault 2 encrypts your data.
With FileVault 2, your data is safe and secure — even if your Mac falls into the wrong hands. FileVault 2 encrypts the entire drive on your Mac, protecting your data with XTS-AES 128 encryption. Mac computers built on the Apple M1 chip take data protection even further by using dedicated hardware to protect your login password and enabling file-level encryption, which developers can take advantage of — just as on iPhone.
Designed to protect your privacy.
Online privacy isn't just something you should hope for — it's something you should expect. That's why Safari comes with powerful privacy protection technology built in, including Intelligent Tracking Prevention that identifies trackers and helps prevent them from profiling or following you across the web. A new weekly Privacy Report on your start page shows how Safari protects you as you browse over time. Or click the Privacy Report button in your Safari toolbar for an instant snapshot of the cross-site trackers Safari is actively preventing on that web page.
Automatic protections from intruders.
Safari uses iCloud Keychain to securely store your passwords across all your devices. If it ever detects a security concern, Password Monitoring will alert you. Safari also prevents suspicious websites from loading and warns you if they're detected. And because it runs web pages in separate processes, any harmful code is confined to a single browser tab and can't crash the whole browser or access your data.
Find your missing Mac with Find My.
The Find My app can help you locate a missing Mac — even if it's offline or sleeping — by sending out Bluetooth signals that can be detected by nearby Apple devices. These devices then relay the detected location of your Mac to iCloud so you can locate it. It's all anonymous and encrypted end-to-end so no one — including Apple — knows the identity of any reporting device or the location of your Mac. And it all happens silently using tiny bits of data that piggyback on existing network traffic. So there's no need to worry about your battery life, your data usage, or your privacy being compromised.
Keep your Mac safe.
Even if it's in the wrong hands.
All Mac systems built on the Apple M1 chip or with the Apple T2 Security Chip support Activation Lock, just like your iPhone or iPad. So if your Mac is ever misplaced or lost, the only person who can erase and reactivate it is you.
macOS Security
