Malware and Antivirus Software
What is the difference between Malware and Antivirus software?
Malware is an abbreviation which stands for malicious software. Viruses are a specific type or subset of malware. Therefore viruses are malware. A good antivirus / malware scanner tool nowadays does both. To keep things more familiar for most readers, this article will use the term antivirus.
Cyberattacks have changed allot over the last decade which now have become more diverse and sophisticated. It used to be that Windows was the only game in town, making it the primary target for attack. Today we see multiple operating system platforms, including Apple’s MacOS and iOS, Google Android, etc. Fortunately, manufacturers are wising up and putting measures in place to thwart these threats. Let’s have a look at the most popular platforms:
Apple
Is using the Apple MacOS make one less likely to get infected with malware? The overall answer is yes, which begs the question why? First of all the MacOS and iOS operating systems are built on the Berkeley UNIX operating system, which is designed from the beginning with security in mind, and is more hardened against attacks. Another obvious reason is that there are less Apple computers out there and therefore are less of a target. Keep in mind that attacks have been on the rise in 2019.
Unaware to most, Apple has a built in malware scanner called XProtect and MRT (Malware Removal Tool).
Gatekeeper is also in place to warn users if they are about to install software from a third party site that may be infected.
Should I be using third party antivirus software on my Mac? Depends how you use your Mac. If you receive allot of email attachments, download and install allot of software, use thumb drives from work or friends, or go to websites that are high risk for installing malware in your browser, then I would say yes.
Even though Apple computers are immune to most common malware, it most certainly can be passed on to other systems that are not. For instance, you receive an infected email attachment (PDF or Microsoft Word) that is infected with Windows malware, then forward it to others, it could potentially infect recipients if they are Microsoft Windows users.
While Microsoft Windows specific malware does not affect your computer, it most certainly will affect Microsoft Windows users.
The same is true with thumb drives. A friend gives you their thumb drive with pictures or documents. Unbeknownst to your friend, some of the files are infected with malware. Chances are your Mac will not get infected, however the files you copy from that drive to your Mac still contain the infection. If you share those infected files with others that are on Microsoft Windows, this could result in their computer becoming infected.
The good part about using a good third party antivirus software on your Mac is that it will warn you and, quarantime the infected files. Another benefit is that some of these scanners include browser plug-ins to protect you on the Web.
Microsoft Windows
Are Windows users more at risk? Yes, because it is currently the most popular desktop operating system in the world. The good thing is that Microsoft has a built-in antivirus software called Microsoft Defender which is included with Windows 8.1 and later versions. Best of all it’s free. It also ranks well in comparison to third party antivirus products.
Google Android
What about Android users? The answer is yes. Due to the open nature of Android and it being the most popular mobile operating system, makes it a very large target. It also does not help that the market is very fragmented due to many mobile manufacturers altering it to their own specifications. This results in delayed updates or worse yet, the manufacturer orphans the device after a year or two. When this happens, the device no longer receives security updates and becomes vulnerable to infections.
What is the best antivirus software? That depends on who did the testing, how the testing was performed and what specific features are focused on. Some of the things I specifically look for are how much will it slow down the computer or device? How much memory will it consume? What’s the detection rate? What’s the false positive rate? From there, one can look if the subscription fee covers more than one computer or device. Does it cover other operating systems and mobile devices.
Beware of fake antivirus and antimalware programs as there are many out there.
The best reviews come from independent testing organizations such as AV Comparatives and Antivirus Protection.
There are also good comparison charts on the PCMag website.
I also recommend using Malwarebytes in addition to third-party or built in antivirus software. Malwarebytes seems to be very good at keeping up with the latest zero-day threats and attacks from the web.
Article by: Rick Naujokat
