Although Macs receive fewer attacks compared to other platforms, they are not completely invincible from online threats. Macs are less tempting for malware and viruses but the platform is not immune to these attacks. Even though you might not be bothered by adware or getting used to infect users on a different platform, you can still become the target of password theft, ransomware, or stolen backup files.
A good antivirus should protect your Mac against all these threats. The software should detect malware that is currently in circulation, block ransomware, protect older systems using outdated software from vulnerabilities, keep off infected files from virtual machines, and prevent your device from carrying malware that targets other operating systems.
There are a lot of antivirus software suites that provide an adequate level of security. However, there are a select few that stand out in terms of their performance. The frontrunners take the lead by getting almost perfect scores from security research labs, passing malware detection tests, presenting sophisticated interfaces, and even adding a couple of extra features such as password manager and firewall.
If you’re looking for something simple that you can be sure to depend on, AVG Antivirus for Mac’s free is a good choice. With 145 samples, AVG scored a 100% protection rate when put to test by AV-Test. It also scored 100% from 585 Mac samples and 500 Windows samples in a test conducted by AV-Comparatives.
AVG’s interface will suggest that you upgrade to a paid version which includes phishing protection, ransomware protection, and a Wi-Fi inspector to monitor every device connected to your home network. But AVG’s free tier is a decent choice if you’re only looking out for infected files on your Mac or want to ensure that downloads do not carry a virus payload.
Best Overall: Sophos Home Premium for Mac
Sophos Home Premium has everything you need. It includes ransomware monitoring, malware protection, protection from potentially unwanted apps, and other features that often need a separate license. Sophos’ cloud-based approach plus an ample number of protected devices makes it an ideal choice for friends and family wherever they are in the world.
What You Need to Look for in Antivirus Software?
Your antivirus software should be capable of defusing security threats before they can do any harm. This means that the software should prevent malicious software from being downloaded, installed, and executed.
Users come across security threats from different sources whether that’s a malicious website, email attachments carrying a virus, or plugging in a USB drive with malware. Effective antivirus software should regularly and continuously scan for threats unless you change the configurations. Files that have been tagged as malicious should be placed into a designated quarantine area monitored by the software. You should also get the option to automatically remove known files carrying malware or fix other documents with a malicious payload.
Effective AV software should utilize low CPU usage. These days, antivirus monitoring isn’t that much more complex compared to when it was first available. Multi-core CPUs have no problem dealing with antivirus software running in the background while you perform your regular tasks.
An excellent antivirus suite should also monitor your filesystem for specific types of changes. Ransomware is one of the biggest moneymakers in other operating systems. It’s a type of malware that can quickly encrypt user documents and mailboxes and get rid of the original versions. Ransomware, as one of the opportunities for hackers, poses the biggest threat to any Mac user.
It should be possible to identify this pattern of attack and prevent it before it can harm your files even without the anti-malware knowing the specific workings of the ransomware virus. The Sophos Home Premium version contains this feature. Other companies such as Trend Micro Antivirus and Avast have alternative features that allow you to place certain programs which can manipulate files in a whitelist category. If this type of attack gains popularity, you will be protected.
Aside from these essential features, you should also consider ease of use when navigating the interface and other additional features included in the package. There are antivirus software packages that come as complete suites and offer extra features such as password manager, parental controls, cloud backup for important files, anti-tracking, privacy options, advanced firewall, and blocking PUAs or Potentially Unwanted Applications.
Privacy Concerns
When you install an antivirus product, you may be lulled into believing that your private and personal details are completely safe from leaking out especially when it contains tools geared for online privacy. Although it’s not exactly something to cause panic, you should still take into consideration some issues regarding privacy.
First, antivirus products would upload the complete text to the cloud of files that are flagged as a threat. This will be analyzed by a set of tools hosted on the cloud. This is a regular and reasonable practice – there are types of malware that can detect when a process is run to examine threats and consequently deceive the software. Antivirus manufacturers have access to their huge databases in order to examine the files featuring certain elements and characteristics which set off their algorithms. Due to this, security researchers can discover new threats. In order for everyone to benefit from this, antivirus users would need to trust third parties with their files.
Second, AV software can either partly or completely rely on cloud-based URL and malware checks. For that reason, your AV suite may upload each URL you’ve visited, file signatures, metadata, computer hardware information, a list of installed applications, and more. Each vendor would differ on how they disclose their policy as well as giving the option to withdraw from sharing such data.
Third, software makers get an idea about the behavior on a computer that they monitor and use such information for their own use. In certain instances, users can opt-out of sharing this information as well.
How We Test Antivirus?
To evaluate AV software, a clean installation of macOS Mojave is cloned for each antivirus package and each one is separately booted to install the AV software. This is done to ensure that previously installed versions of the app do not interfere with the ones under testing. AV software will sometimes treat other antivirus software as a threat.
Common tests conducted for AV software include downloading malicious software, running the program, and visiting malicious websites. The most up-to-date report from AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives are also referenced given that they are the ones who regularly include macOS malware. These labs test the software performance against known malware and products categorized as potentially unwanted applications.
Although PUAs do not expose or damage computers and files, they may require more power and CPU cycles. Antivirus testing remains effective gauges for several months since it looks at both behavior and virus databases.
Lastly, despite recognizing the benefits of additional features in an AV suite, products that lack the following receive a markdown in points:
• Ransomware monitoring
• Close to perfect score for malware detection on macOS
• High score for malware detection on Windows
• System-level web proxy or browser plug-in
