Joanna Nelius of PC Gamer Magazine dropped a bomb felt ’round the internet this past week. Mac users, according to research done by major player in the anti-virus business Malwarebytes, are twice as likely to “get infected by adware” than their Window’s wielding opposition. Malwarebytes found that infected Mac users outnumbered Windows users 2:1 in 2019. This is, of course not just a worry for Mac users, but a huge hit to what was once a major selling point for Mac computers. Apple has long touted their brand as the seller of devices that “just work” (which was part of their ad campaign for the company). The interpretation has always been, and rightfully so, that Macs were near impervious to both user and hacker augmentation. Apple has drug their boots through the mud on keeping a closed-system with their devices. I can’t count the countless number of times I have had the Mac vs. Windows argument only to hear a Steve Jobs fanboy cry out that their device may need to be completely voided of its warranty to offer even the most remote customization options, but hey, at least it didn’t get viruses. In 2019, the bitten Apple reveals a worm, with a ” 400 percent rise in overall Mac-related threats”.
There is little in this article about why these attacks are more prevalent. Sure, Macs are now a “larger piece of the computer market pie”, but by that logic this should have happened long ago as Macs have been growing rapidly for years. Even so, Windows is still the largest player in the computer space, so why the sudden shift? Malwarebytes themselves said that Apple users “can no longer say that their beloved systems are immune from malware”. The key here is that these devices were once perceived unbreakable. The likely-hood of masses of Mac users lackadaisically skirting around typical security measures because there was a cultural good-will towards Apple’s ability to keep them safe has most certainly lead them astray. The bulk of the malware was downloaded by users, the reports say. It isn’t a longshot to assume that hackers just needed one working exploit to take advantage of millions of users who were completely unprepared for malware. The shift is like a snow storm in California, it can happen, but nobody believes it until they see it. When they do see it, everything comes to a crashing halt.
Hopefully the growth in affected users is stunted, and Apple fans quickly learn to protect themselves and their devices from malicious internet activity. The flood gates have only just opened, and there is no going back. Instead, the best advice is to promptly teach these new victims how to defend themselves.
Source Article: https://www.pcgamer.com/macs-now-twice-as-likely-to-get-infected-by-adware-than-pcs-according-to-research/
Social Structures & Algorithms 