Antivirus research for macOS

Roskachestvo together with ICRT International Consumer Research and Testing Ltd , conducted a study of antiviruses for the macOS operating system. The 10 most popular programs from 10 antivirus vendors were tested. Each antivirus was evaluated according to 200 indicators, which were divided into three groups.

The main evaluation criteria, which included 200 indicators, were:

* Protection against viruses

* usability

* Impact on computer speed.

Protection against viruses is the most important criterion for evaluation: the indexes within this group of parameters gave 65% of the total evaluation of an anti-virus. Usability and impact on computer speed gave 25% and 10% of the total score, respectively.

How we tested

The tests were conducted over a six-month period. A total of four groups of virus protection tests were conducted – a general online protection test, an offline test, a false positives test and a scanning test. To a lesser degree the final ranking was influenced by a test of the usability of the antivirus and its effect on computer speed.

General protection

Each antivirus package was tested in online mode for a set of viruses totaling more than 40,000. We also checked how well antivirus copes with phishing – substitution of official resources with sites of intruders in order to get access to confidential user data. Ransomware, which limits access to a computer and its data for ransom, was tested for protection against ransomware. In addition, an online test of a USB drive containing malware was conducted. It is needed to know how well antivirus copes with finding and eliminating viruses, when it is not known beforehand either about the presence of malicious files or their origin.

Offline USB test

Detection of malware on a USB drive connected to a computer. Before the test, the computer was disconnected from the Internet for several weeks, so that the anti-virus packages were not 100% up-to-date.

False positives

We tested how effectively antivirus identifies real threats and misses files that are actually safe but have been flagged as a potential threat.

Tested how well the scanning feature works when it automatically scans your computer for malware and when it’s run manually. The study also tested whether it was possible to schedule scans for specific times when the computer was not in use.

Antiviruses for macOS are already a necessity

Unlike computers running Windows operating systems, until recently there was almost no demand for antivirus protection for Macs. The Apple operating system is not as widespread, making it less attractive to attackers.

There are currently about 12% of macOS users, and experts say that the growth of threats for them has already begun and will only increase in the future. For example, in 2016, the first ransomware virus was reported that was able to successfully infect Apple computers.

Apple’s security is ensured by several built-in tools.

* Gatekeeper – prevents you from installing anything other than Apple-approved software.

* FileVault – protects files by encrypting your Mac so that only an authorized user can use it.

* Sandbox keeps malware out of system components when certain applications or files are infected.

The main function of all antivirus software for macOS is to prevent malicious programs from external drives: USB flash drives, cell phones, hard drives, etc.d. Apple computers are the least protected against these threats.

Unlike Windows defenders, free antiviruses for Macs are not always good enough to provide sufficient protection against threats. In this segment, paid packages are still the best solution.

Our ranking includes 10 antiviruses designed for Mac. Built-in antivirus protection, which comes by default, was at the bottom of the overall ranking of antivirus and antivirus software for Mac. It scored 1.5, so we didn’t even include it in our comparison matrix – it’s definitely not worth relying solely on it.

Basic antivirus for macOS showed unsatisfactory results for two main groups of parameters, which together give 90% of the final score. In fact, the built-in antivirus software failed to protect against malicious programs, receiving 1.09 points out of a possible 5.

Ease of use was slightly better at 1.77, but still a very low score.

Avira Free Antivirus for Mac deserves a special comment. In the rating summary table, the features of this antivirus are not marked in any points, but this package is not the last in the ranking. The fact is that, according to the test results and the declared capabilities, this product is designed to scan the system and individual files for malware and to prevent the penetration of viruses from external media. Avira Free does this in automatic mode and handles the function well, but if the user needs something more, it’s probably worth looking at other products.

Conclusions

Among the dozen antivirus programs tested for Mac were four free programs:

* Avira Free Antivirus for Mac fifth place in the ranking

* Avast Free Mac Security seventh place in the ranking

* AVG Antivirus for Mac eighth in the ranking

* Built-in Apple macOs protector tenth in the ranking .

They are able to provide basic protection against viruses, but as a rule, they lack additional functions. Unlike in the study of antivirus programs for Windows, where among the free solutions were those you can trust to protect your computer, for macOS it is better to opt for paid antiviruses.

Paid apps are the best for macOS. Thus, G Data Antivirus for Mac OS topped the Roskatchestvo tests score 4.05 , Norton Security Deluxe came in second 3.98 points , and Kaspersky Internet Security came in third 3.9 points .