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Hello, Apple Intelligence. Seven vibrant colors. Strikingly thin design. Buy now. The all-in-one desktop. Trade in your device and get credit toward a new Mac. Terms apply.
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macOS has many features that help protect your Mac and your personal information from malicious software, or malware. One common way malware is distributed is by embedding it in a harmless-looking app. You can reduce this risk by using software only from reliable sources.
- Overview
- Three layers of defense
- Notarization
- XProtect
- Automatic XProtect security updates
- How Apple responds when new malware is discovered
Apple operates a threat intelligence process to quickly identify and block malware.
Malware defenses are structured in three layers:
1. Prevent launch or execution of malware: App Store, or Gatekeeper combined with Notarization
2. Block malware from running on customer systems: Gatekeeper, Notarization, and XProtect
3. Remediate malware that has executed: XProtect
The first layer of defense is designed to inhibit the distribution of malware, and prevent it from launching even once—this is the goal of the App Store, and Gatekeeper combined with Notarization.
The next layer of defense is to help ensure that if malware appears on any Mac, it’s quickly identified and blocked, both to halt spread and to remediate the Mac systems it’s already gained a foothold on. XProtect adds to this defense, along with Gatekeeper and Notarization.
Notarization is a malware scanning service provided by Apple. Developers who want to distribute apps for macOS outside the App Store submit their apps for scanning as part of the distribution process. Apple scans this software for known malware and, if none is found, issues a Notarization ticket. Typically, developers staple this ticket to their app so Gatekeeper can verify and launch the app, even offline.
Apple can also issue a revocation ticket for apps known to be malicious—even if they’ve been previously notarized. macOS regularly checks for new revocation tickets so that Gatekeeper has the latest information and can block launch of such files. This process can very quickly block malicious apps because updates happen in the background much more frequently than even the background updates that push new XProtect signatures. In addition, this protection can be applied to both apps that have been previously and those that haven’t.
macOS includes built-in antivirus technology called XProtect for the signature-based detection and removal of malware. The system uses YARA signatures, a tool used to conduct signature-based detection of malware, which Apple updates regularly. Apple monitors for new malware infections and strains, and updates signatures automatically—independent from system updates—to help defend a Mac from malware infections. XProtect automatically detects and blocks the execution of known malware. In macOS 10.15 or later, XProtect checks for known malicious content whenever:
•An app is first launched
•An app has been changed (in the file system)
•XProtect signatures are updated
When XProtect detects known malware, the software is blocked and the user is notified and given the option to move the software to the Trash.
Note: Notarization is effective against known files (or file hashes) and can be used on apps that have been previously launched. The signature-based rules of XProtect are more generic than a specific file hash, so it can find variants that Apple has not seen. XProtect scans only apps that have been changed or apps at first launch.
Apple issues the updates for XProtect automatically based on the latest threat intelligence available. By default, macOS checks for these updates daily. Notarization updates, which are distributed using CloudKit sync are much more frequent.
When new malware is discovered, a number of steps may be performed:
•Any associated Developer ID certificates are revoked.
•Notarization revocation tickets are issued for all files (apps and associated files).
•XProtect signatures are developed and released.
These signatures are also applied retroactively to previously notarized software, and any new detections can result in one or more of the previous actions occurring.
Ultimately, a malware detection launches a series of steps over the next seconds, hours, and days that follow to propagate the best protections possible to Mac users.
Essentially, yes, Apple does have a virus scan, but it runs in the background, you can’t manually set it to scan your Mac for viruses. XProtect will catch any Mac viruses that are included...
Can Macs get viruses? Mac malware in 2023. Mac malware in 2022. Mac malware in 2021. Mac malware in 2020. ... Despite Apple’s best efforts, Mac malware does exist, we describe some cases...
- Karen Haslam
Jun 29, 2024 · Mac computers typically have Apple's built-in security. Windows Security Essentials protects against both viruses and malware. While the Macintosh Digital Signing protects against both.
Apple has an article up on their website to address malware on the Mac, which reminds the user that MacOS has many built-in features to offer security and protection against malware (this includes things like Gatekeeper and XProtect, which we discussed a moment ago).
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Apr 18, 2019 · David Balaban. April 18, 2019. Find out how to tell if your Mac has a virus, what to do in case of infection, and how to prevent different forms of malware from contaminating a Mac. There is no operating system immune to viruses, and a magic vaccine to fend them all off has yet to be invented.
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