How to Protect your Mac from Viruses

The Mac OS was said to be the safest in the world when they first hit the market. There were no harmful applications or scripts coded for them, not to mention about the advanced technologies used by Apple. For quite a lot of time, they maintained their safety status at high standards. Today, things have not changed too much, except for one thing – the apparition of malicious scripts.
Protect your Mac from Viruses
 

The whole madness began in the autumn of 2008, when Apple made a very important announcement. It seems the Apple products did require an antivirus protection, since new scripts that could be potentially harmful have been found floating around the Internet. The announcement was quite subtle, so a lot of people have no clue what they need. Assuming that most Mac users are usually brighter and more advanced than the average Windows users, thinking about some protection measures is definitely a must.
Today, after about four years since that announcement, it seems there are not less than three hundred harmful applications that can affect Mac OS. The number is insignificant compared to the viruses for Windows – more than a million. With all these, they can be just as harmful. Many of them are designed by experts under legal circumstances, as concepts or to develop protective applications. With all these, there are problematic scripts too.
Some of them may intercept e-banking transactions, while others may give a hacker full control over your computer. The risks to encounter such an application are definitely smaller compared to what the Windows users have to go through, but this is not a very encouraging aspect.
You still have a few risks you expose yourself to without protective software and since preventing a problem is definitely better than solving it, it is mandatory to get something for the protection of your unit too.

How viruses get to your system


There are a series of facts that support the implementation of protective measures for the Mac users. First of all, it is no longer an assumption, but a fact that new malware scripts are written and spread around on a regular basis. Some names are more popular than others. OSX Jahlav is a trojan hidden in website source codes. Once a user visits that website, it is downloaded and installed immediately, without actually harming the Windows users. Other than that, Troj RKOSX creates backdoors for hackers to take control over your device. Whether they check out your e-mail, personal files or e-banking sessions, any of these issues can cause a lot of trouble.
New such threats are found on a regular basis and although Apple makes high efforts to prevent them through the regular updates, it is almost impossible to do it. Since the trends change, the same goes for the hacking world. Such concepts can and will infect your computer, no matter how safe you think it is.

How safe are Macs?


Mac systems are clearly safer compared to other operating systems, but they are still very vulnerable. They are not invincible. You may not care too much when it comes to your personal computer. If you visit trusted websites only and you don’t accept any files from unknown addresses or individual, you probably think that you are safe. But doing a simple web search and checking out the results can easily harm your computer.
Things are even more complicated when it comes to businesses or companies, regardless of their size. An employee checking his e-mail may infect his computer and spread the script through your entire network, causing severe damage. Such risks can only be avoided through decent antivirus software.

Take these steps to have a safer Mac

Keep up on latest updates:

As you know, everyday new threats are discovered on the web, new security issues are found, and lots of new security fixes and updates are issued for different softwares and applications. So the best advice is to use available online (and even offline) sources to keep up on updates for any software you have on your system, and install updates/fixes immediately.

Use good passwords:

Depending on the services you use on the internet, use appropriate passwords so that they’re not guessable by others. Password Assistant in Keychain Access could help you in this matter.

Never open unknown attachments or links in your email messages:

That’s because most of the times, the links are to phishing websites which seek your confidential information, and attachments lead to malicious softwares being installed on your system without your knowledge.

Install firewall and antivirus software as well as a Mac Cleaner Software:

Don’t rely only on the built-in firewall included in OS X by Apple, as there are many better ones in the market. And think of an antivirus as an insurance policy that you may never need to use it, but if someday something happens you don’t regret having it.

Another good idea it to  make regular use of the best Mac Cleaner Software you can find on the market. This does not have to be the most expensive software, but one that is highly rated and reviewed should suit you well. On the other side of things, you will also be able to keep your Mac running smoothly and efficiently while are the same time protecting your data.

Aly Chiman

Aly Chiman is a Blogger & Reporter at AlyChiTech.com which covers a wide variety of topics from local news from digital world fashion and beauty . AlyChiTech covers the top notch content from the around the world covering a wide variety of topics. Aly is currently studying BS Mass Communication at University.