Apparently, Apple thinks the level of malware on macOS is ‘unacceptable’

The ongoing lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games has brought some interesting facts to light, and yesterday’s courtroom action let another one slip. Senior VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, was surprisingly forthright about the sorry state of security on the company’s macOS.

The upshot is that your Mac isn’t anywhere near as secure as your iPhone, even when Mac users download substantially less software. Federighi even went so far as to call the amount of malware on the Mac “unacceptable” to Apple, while he was trying to justify the locked-down App Store model on iOS.

In the context of the lawsuit brought by Epic Games, it’s a viable strategy. Epic is saying that the locked-down iOS App Store approach is anti-competitive because you can’t install apps from outside it ordinarily. Apple is saying that approach is necessary for the security of the platform, on a device that is filled with biometric data, has GPS, cameras, and microphones, and is on your person most of the day.

Taking this out of the context of the lawsuit, it’s clear that Apple needs to do more in its efforts to keep malware off the Mac platform. Federighi stated that there were 130 types of malware on macOS in the last twelve months alone, with one of those infecting over 300,000 devices.

Our advice? If you use a Mac, don’t download software from untrusted sources, and wherever possible, stick to apps downloaded from the App Store.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.