McAfee Security Firm Releases Unfavorable Report Of Apple's OS User Declined.
If you’re a Mac user, you might want to look out for an increase of unwanted advertisements popping out from your web browsers.
Apple Mac |
Security firm McAfee released
a report this week that showed a big jump in 2016 regarding malware
hitting the Mac operating system. The McAfee report said there were
460,000 malware instances affecting the Mac OS in the fourth quarter of
2016, an over 700% jump from the previous year during the same quarter.
McAfee’s new report confirms similar research by other cybersecurity firms in recent years that show an increased prevalence of malware affecting Apple computers. Essentially, as more people buy Apple computers, there are more possibilities for malware to infect the machines.
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But
while an over 700% surge in malware may sound frightening, it should be
noted that “the big increase in Mac OS malware was due to adware
bundling,” the report’s authors wrote. Adware refers to software that
automatically displays online advertisements to users when they surf the
web.
Adware,
while annoying and obtrusive to some users, is considered by security
researchers to be relatively harmless compared to the kinds of computer
viruses that can help criminals hack into people’s machines.
One
way people can protect themselves from accidentally downloading adware
is by only downloading apps from Apple’s approved online store instead
of installing software from less reliable sources.
In January, cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes said that it discovered a new type of malware that could freeze Apple computers.
McAfee Security Firm Releases Unfavorable Report Of Apple's OS User Declined.
Reviewed by Lenee Barine
on
04:04
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