My brother has been a longtime Mac user and doesn't run any security software.
[NOTE: The listmoms may want to pin this post. It's a question that comes up regularly.]
(I can provide links to articles to back up the following on request.)
The overwhelming number of Macintosh users go without. Yet you never hear of an entire office that uses Macs being ravaged by malware in the media. And if you are on a Macintosh discussion list you never hear from any users whose Macs were damaged by malware. That’s because there are extremely few threats in the wild for the Macintosh (there are *a huge number* for Windows), and because the Macintosh has several layers of malware protection built-in.
One problem with anti-virus (AV) software is that a lot of AV software does more harm than it prevents. Most fully interactive AV software has been known to slow Macs to a crawl, and some AV software from certain vendors has been known to carry malware itself, or to do malware-like things.
If you really want AV software (e.g. your business requires that you have it, or your data is extra important and you really need to do everything in your power to safeguard it), what you want is AV software that is known to be both effective, and harmless to your Mac. The good news is the best AV software for your Mac (based on the last believeable comparison tests from a few years ago) comes in a free version!
VirusBarrier Free Edition (free)
Intego Launches VirusBarrier Scanner — Free Mac Antivirus | The Mac Security Blog
Intego VirusBarrier Scanner on the Mac App Store
This is a full version of Intego's anti-virus program VirusBarrier [usually $40/year] minus some [but not all] of the automated scanning features in the commercial version. Intego's VirusBarrier is the only anti-virus [AV] program that comes from a company that only creates software for the Macintosh. (That's important because most AV software comes from companies that just do a quick port of the Windows software, and they really don't understand the Macintosh well.) And that company is extremely effective at discovering new malware quickly as it comes on the scene and updating their product to protect against it.
Have a look at this respected review site:
The Safe Mac » Mac anti-virus testing 2014
(Scroll down to the table listing various product’s efficacy.)
Macworld:
"Intego’s Mac Internet Security X9 [includes VirusBarrier] is our pick of the bunch, making it the best antivirus."
Intego Mac Internet Security X9 Review - Macworld UK
(Note that there is a more recent comparison test of AV software by Macworld on the Web. However, I haven’t found their tests credible since they discontinued their print publication and fired all of their staff.)
(I’ve been using the commercial version of VirusBarrier myself for 18 years now. It might make you feel good to know that the program has never “saved” me from anything that I really needed saving from in all that time. It has flagged things like phishing e-mails [which are easy to spot on your own], and Windows viruses that show up via e-mail [which are also easy to spot on your own, and which can’t run on the Macintosh]. So I really could have done without it just fine. But my profession requires that I follow "best practices" and have AV software installed.)
If nothing else, the value in having this free Intego AV program is that if you are the paranoid type, you can now use the best program available to satisfy yourself that you aren't infected with something. Also, this free version is sandboxed and it isn't deeply embedded in your system, like other AV programs, so it shouldn't impact your Mac's overall performance as just about all the other fully interactive AV programs do.
Note that AV programs, and your Mac OS, do little or nothing to combat adware. Adware usually isn’t malicious, it just serves up extremely annoying ads. AV companies for some reason usually decide to ignore adware. So, in the event that you find yourself infected by adware, you may want to download and use:
DetectX Swift (free)
DetectX – sqwarq | security for your mac
The above product purports to be an effective broad spectrum AV product. It is not. But it is excellent for dealing with adware.
One note. “Flash” is a technology used by your browser to see animated or video content on the Web. Flash has been sunsetted, but it is still really common on the Web, so you likely will want to have it installed and keep on using it for now. The problem is that fake pop-ups commonly exist on the Web that will tell you that you need to install/update Flash, and they will offer to allow you to install or upgrade Flash with a click, but if you click “yes” they instead will have you willingly downloading malware.
There are only two ways that you should EVER normally install or update Flash:
1) Via the Flash Player pane (under the Updates tab) in System Preferences on your Mac (you, of course, don't have this if you have never installed Flash)
or
2) Directly from Adobe:
Adobe Flash Player End of Life
**YOU SHOULD NEVER UPDATE OR INSTALL FLASH FROM A POP-UP THAT APPEARS ON YOUR SCREEN, OR ANY OTHER WAY**
If at any time you are wondering if you already have the latest version of Flash installed, you can check in the Flash preferences pane, or you can find out which version of Flash you currently have installed, and what the latest version is, here:
Adobe - Flash Player
Good luck!
I remember reading in previous years that Mac's can get infected by virus & malware but few bother to write them for the Mac since there's so many more Windows users.
The theory that up until now there haven't been enough Macs being used, and
as a result virus writers haven't found the Mac to be a worthy enough
target (security through obscurity), and that as a result of the Mac's recent increases in popularity, "anytime now" there are going to be more viruses for the Mac OS, doesn't stand up to even the smallest application of logic.
There are now over 100 million Macintosh users:
There are now 100 million active Macs thanks to high number of new adopters | AppleInsider
That doesn't sound like an insignificant number to me. Even back in 2014, at the World Wide Developer's Conference, Apple's then current installed user base was reported as 80 million users. If there were going to be a bunch of viruses for the Mac OS based on proliferation of the Mac, they would already be here by now.
Just about every respected computer authority has repudiated this myth:
Viruses and Operating Systems
by David Pogue (originally published in the New York Times)
(bad link removed)
The fact is that the Macintosh is inherently more secure than Windows. See:
Is Windows inherently more vulnerable to malware attacks than OS X?
http://is.gd/b2CCl
There is very little malware for the Macintosh.
Here is a list:
The Safe Mac : Mac Malware Guide
Note that there currently are no actual viruses in the wild for the
Mac. Also note that of the handful of malware that exists, most of
it is of little concern.
Compare that list to the *OVER A MILLION* pieces of malware for Windows!!!:
BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer viruses hit one million
...and maybe as many as over FIVE MILLION (going by the number of definitions in the ClamAV database):
Clam AntiVirus - Wikipedia
and the over 95,000 new threats for Windows *EVERY DAY*!!!
Outtakes from Sophos threat report
