You Need Anti-Virus For Your Mac

Thanks to Brian Krebs of the Washington Post for pointing out a recently published Apple Technical Note that encourages Mac users to get antivirus software:

Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult. Here are some available antivirus utilities:

It then goes on to list Intego, Symantec, and McAfee AV products for the Mac.

This is a pretty low-key, technical endorsement, and as Krebs notes, Apple Store employees are still telling customers otherwise, as are Apple advertisements.

There is malware for the Mac (see here and here for example), but it's still not a gangbusters malware market. In fact, if I were to say that the amount of Mac malware doubled or tripled this year it would not necessarily be a reason for panic.

But it is a reason for concern: Apple undoubtedly knows that they are not immune to malware, they just haven't been the target of it much, and that could change. Perhaps they are actually seeing enough of it among real customers that they are concerned about those users' unpreparedness for attack. Anti-virus may be an inadequate security solution for Windows users, but at least they have some protection that will stop a very high percentage of attacks. Mac users still have an open door and a welcome mat out.

Don't look for Apple to be much more public about their users' need for anti-malware protection, as it would be a serious buzz-killer for their hype. This could change if a real attack commenced and got traction against Mac users. Security experts have mumbled about such a real possibility for years. (story Link)