Sophos: ‘You Should Run Anti-Virus Software on Your Mac Just in Case’

An exclusive interview scored by Softpedia with Sophos’ senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley, reveals an expert’s opinion on the threat level faced by Mac users today.

“Clearly Mac users need to protect against malware, but many of them are currently not running any anti-virus,” Cluley told Softpedia. “The criminals know this and may increasingly consider Mac owners a ‘soft target’ as a result.”

Our interview was done shortly after Cluley’s company rolled out the first free business-strength antivirus for Mac. We only got a chance to publish some of Cluley's Mac-related answers today.

Asked by Softpedia why Sophos decided to distribute their Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition as freeware, Cluley said “We hope that our move will convince more Mac users that they have nothing to lose by running anti-virus software, and everything to gain.”

The Mac is becoming increasingly attractive to cyber crooks, that’s pretty much a given. However, we were curious to know when things could get so out of hand that installing antivirus software on a Mac will become imperative.

“It's true that there is *much* less malware for Mac than Windows, but that doesn't mean the problem is non-existent,” Sophos’ senior technology consultant told us.

“I believe that all Mac users should run anti-virus software now, as otherwise they are gambling with their data and identities. Anything else would be foolhardy - I would compare it to not doing backups,” he said.

“You should run anti-virus software on your Mac just in case…,” Cluley’s advice goes.

Asked whether there are differences between Mac and Windows users as to how they can be tricked into downloading malware, Cluley said “no”.

“There are no real differences between attacks on Windows and Macs,” the computer security expert noted.

“The common denominator is normally the user,” he went to elaborate.

“Mac owners are just as prone to falling for social engineering tricks as Windows users.  Running anti-virus software can help reduce the chances of you getting hit if you unwittingly install a dangerous program, click on a dodgy link etc.,” Cluley concluded.