Securing Mac OSX

Macs aren’t hacker-proof! Here’s how you can fortify your Macintosh.

Introduction

The Mac operating system has long since been associated with an aura of user-friendliness and immunity to viruses and other malware. In fact, it is true that there are almost no viruses (in the sense of malware that can saliently infiltrate a computer without any user interaction) that affect a Mac OS (thanks to their file permission system). However there do exist vulnerabilities, as exemplified by the Rootpipe fiasco, which was patched after a whopping 6 months in April 2015 (exclusive to Yosemite and not for older versions), only to be exposed as an inadequate fix a few days later. There are also quite a few trojans, which usually piggyback on other software like video plugins. Their installation however, requires tricking the user into authenticating it. Of course, it is true that the Mac operating system is comparatively immune to malware, but that is only because most malware targets Windows operating systems, and malware written for Microsoft Windows will not run on an Apple Macintosh. If you compare it with the number of different malware written for Windows, malware that targets Mac operating systems are a drop in a pond, but that is only because so many more people use the Windows operating system. So like it or not, Macs can and do get affected by malware and vulnerabilities, and are a far cry from being completely ‘secure’. Yet how many Mac users use anti-virus software?