Mac Owners: Don’t Think You’re Immune to Viruses on Your Computer 

There was once a time when as a Mac user, you could give a little chuckle every time your Windows-owning friends suffered yet another virus invasion on their computers. It’s common knowledge that Macs are impervious to viruses — making them a popular choice for people who don’t want to tinker or to spend excess amounts of time ridding their machines of pesky viruses.

But now, it seems that Mac owners can’t just laugh off the threat of viruses. They’re a very real threat, even to Macs — so if you own a Mac, it’s time to stand up and pay attention.

Here’s why.

A more popular brand 

Windows computers have long been the front runners when it comes to computer sales — taking up the lion’s share of the world market. With the majority — something like 90 percent — of computers being Windows-based, computer hackers have simply had more “business” with Windows computers. In other words, they’ve focused their attentions on Windows, because there are simply more Windows computers out there to target with their nefarious viruses.

These days, though, more and more people are loving Apple — and that means a bigger share of the world market. With it, then, comes more attention from hackers, who want to be known as the ones to “crack Apple.” It’s something of a challenge, as well as a “business” decision to target an operating system that is getting more of the market share.

A built-in gatekeeper – or is it?  

Mac owners don’t tend to install anti-virus software on their computers, often because they’ve been told they don’t need to. Why? Because Macs come with a built-in “gatekeeper” that detects the viruses. It’s called, of course, Mac Gatekeeper. It’s worked pretty well in the past — but like everything, smart hackers have found a way to get around it.

Here’s the deal. Gatekeeper is designed to read the security certificates of software, and then to deny access to anything that has an invalid security certificate or is not approved by Apple. The problem comes when hackers find a way to fake a valid security certificate, or use the certificate of a provider already approved by Apple. When that happens, Gatekeeper isn’t going to recognize that malware, no matter how insidious its purpose!

With the compounded issues of 1, more hackers turning their attentions to Macs, and 2, an already-tested method of entry, it’s no wonder that more Mac owners are finding themselves stricken with viruses that are causing erratic behavior, or worse — actually having their computers held for ransom! That actually happened to some Mac users in early 2016 — and the hackers asked for a ransom of £280 to restore their files. Apple worked quickly to fix the breach, but it meant a lot of trouble for the Mac owners who had to deal with it.

If you’ve been experiencing strange behavior on your Mac — get your Apple Mac virus removal tools at Nexus.

The time to protect your Mac is now!