Pop-up ads, slowdowns, crashes — that’s what most people picture when they hear “Mac virus.” It hasn’t been the real risk for years.
The threats that matter now are built not to be noticed: malware that copies saved passwords and wallet files in the background, and scams that talk a user into running the command themselves. Neither leaves the kind of trace Apple’s built-in tools were designed to find, so a Mac can be compromised and still feel completely normal.
Moonlock Lab’s 2025 macOS Threat Report, published in December 2025, found the era of the malware-free Mac is over: new backdoor variants are up 67% in a year, and criminals are starting to treat macOS the same way they treat Windows. The same report found 66% of Mac users encountered at least one cyberthreat in the past year.
The same team builds Moonlock, MacPaw’s Mac security app, made to catch threats that don’t announce themselves and don’t look like malware. It pairs a malware scanner with always-on protection and a scam checker for anything that looks off.
The comprehensive security solution you need to protect your Mac
The annoying stuff isn’t the expensive stuff
In Moonlock’s mid-2026 macOS Threat Report, released in July 2026, adware accounts for roughly 65% of the company’s own detections, with unwanted apps at 25%, so most of what ends up on users’ Macs is considered low-severity.
However, even though stealers, backdoors, and trojans make up the rest, users should still run an ad blocker. The mid-2026 report also cites VirusTotal submission data showing unique malicious macOS samples rose roughly 40% year over year, with infostealers becoming a more dominant presence.
While there may be a high volume of annoying adware out there, it’s the smaller cut of the pie that’s more dangerous and worth paying attention to.
Apple’s protection is real, and it has a scope
Apple’s default defense apps, like Gatekeeper and XProtect, are good at flagging known patterns (malicious downloads, an unsigned app), but they’re not designed to handle threats that don’t look like malware.
Take ClickFix, a tactic in which a Mac user sees a fake CAPTCHA or a “fix your audio glitch” prompt and is encouraged to paste a command into Terminal with no file to scan, nothing unsigned to flag. Apple responded to this type of threat by adding a warning dialog in macOS Tahoe 26.4.
Mashable Light Speed
A week later, Jamf Threat Labs reported campaigns that skipped Terminal entirely, opening Script Editor via a browser link so that the warning never fired. That rerouting is why third-party protection is needed. Also worth noting: macOS has no default, on-demand malware scanner. So, if something feels off to a user, there’s no way to really check.
The dangerous stuff doesn’t announce itself
Malware today doesn’t try to break your Mac; it hides it. That’s because infostealers operate quietly in the background, copying saved passwords and crypto wallet data.
In August 2025, the Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS) peaked, with a 300% spike in Moonlock’s detection data, which then disappeared two months later. But a related variant, Odyssey, soon popped up, and by the first half of 2026, it accounted for roughly 63% of Mac stealer detections in Moonlock’s telemetry, according to the mid-2026 report, with the broader lineage covering more than nine in ten.
The best disguise is a familiar one
Moonlock Lab also discovered a variety of software impersonators that include cracked Adobe installers, fake corporate meeting apps (Zoom, Teams, Webex), and a growing crop of fake ChatGPT and Claude installers.
In today’s challenging job market, an email from a potential employer asking to meet over a familiar video app is easy to trust. It’s tempting to tap that link and unknowingly expose yourself.
What a safety net actually does
There’s so much more to it than the standard “beware suspicious links” advice, which assumes a person catches the trick every time, under pressure. What’s needed is something that can double-check for threats so you can focus on doing what matters most to you on your Mac.
That’s where a security app like Moonlock comes in, offering protection and antivirus capabilities that serve as the safety net most Mac users lack. Its AI-powered Scam Detector lets you paste a suspicious text, email, or job offer to get a read on its potential as a scam, flagging manipulation patterns and mismatches.
Its Malware Scanner provides a thorough on-demand scan that macOS lacks natively, checking system files, old downloads, and attachments. And its real-time protection runs continuously in the background while its System Protection reviews a user’s Mac settings and flags the ones worth tightening.
Tested and certified by independent lab AV-TEST, Moonlock is the kind of reassurance Mac users will want in a tech landscape that’s changing more rapidly than ever. A 7-day free trial is a low-stakes way to see what’s already on your Mac.
Disclosures:
Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc. This article was paid for by Moonlock and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.
