Do Apple Macs Need Antivirus?

Apple Macs are certainly not immune to viruses. So when you ask yourself can Macs get viruses? The answer is yes, Apple Macs do get viruses! Our IT specialists at Nexus have witnessed this first hand with customers bringing their infected Macs to us over the years.

For many years, Apple fans delighted in pointing out the security flaws they claimed were rampant in Windows-based computers. With every new data breach, every new virus and every new security flaw, those Apple fans would come out of the woodwork, popping up on message boards, trolling Microsoft fans and claiming that their own computers were immune to such threats.

Back then, it sometimes seemed that the Apple true believers were right. After all, the vast majority of security threats were hitting Windows-based machines, as Apple users went happily along their way.

At the same time, many industry experts expressed the belief that the supposed Apple immunity was not real, and that a lack of market share, not a lack of security flaws, was to blame. Those experts argued that since Microsoft enjoyed a near monopoly on the computer market, hackers were focusing their efforts there. The hacking community, they argued, was simply targeting the computers most in use, and there was nothing special about Apple computers or their operating systems.

Now it seems the Microsoft defenders have been proven right. While Windows-based computers are still the norm, Apple has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts. Led by the enormous success of the iPhone, Apple is once again gaining market share, and with it attracting the interest of hackers and other nefarious characters.

Gone are the days when Apple fans could simply sit back and laugh at their counterparts on the other side of the Macbook/Windows divide. Those days are long gone, and Apple users have been getting a lesson on karma – and on the importance of antivirus protection.

After many years of feeling immune to viruses, ransomware attacks and other online threats, Apple fans are finally taking their security seriously. They are busy downloading antivirus programs, installing ransomware protection kits and watching where they go on the internet.

In the end, it seems the answer to the question “Do Apple Macs need antivirus protection?” is a resounding yes.

All those years spent avoiding security threats and laughing at Windows users seems to have created a kind of dangerous complacency, one that Apple fans and engineers can no longer afford.

The good news is that the leaders at Apple seem to be taking security far more seriously than they did in years past. No longer are Apple engineers treating security as a mere afterthought; these days programmers are building online protection into their operating systems and warning computer buyers to protect their machines from hackers and other online dangers.

Even so, Apple fans should not become complacent and simply assume that the engineers have addressed all their security challenges. Everyone who uses a computer, including owners of Apple Macs, needs to have strong antivirus protection in place. Whether you own a Windows-based machine, an Apple Mac or even a Linux-based system, you need to be proactive about your online security.

That means paying attention to your surfing habits, updating your antivirus signatures, applying operating system updates and security patches as they become available and running regular scans of your system. Now that Apple has gained new respect and a good deal of market share, hackers are no longer ignoring the products they make. So stop being complacent, and start searching for a good antivirus program.