Apple’s war against malware
F or many years, macOS has playedcat and mouse with unwanted and malicious software.
Persistent and thoroughly nasty adware like Adload has adapted rapidly each time Apple has improved defences like XProtect, part of the Gatekeeper checks run on-demand when opening apps.
This changed in April, when Apple’s security engineers fired full broadsides against three of the worst offenders, Adload, Pirrit and Bundlore. This new assault extends beyond XProtect, which is effective even in older macOS before Sierra, and includes its more recent silent sister that scans daily for and removes malicious code in Catalina and later.
Time will tell whether Apple’s adoption of a more aggressive approach will drive away these troublesome predators.