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Security Bite: Malware your Mac can detect and remove

macos mac malware

Hello 2025…and goodbye 2024! It’s been an exciting first year hosting the Security Bite column on 9to5Mac. I had the privilege of talking with many leaders in the security industry and traveling to places I never thought I’d find myself. In October, I took to the column on the road–sky and tracks, too–traveling to Kyiv to meet with world-class security engineers and to attend Objective-See‘s Objective for the We v2.0 event. It was an experience I’ve yet been able to put into words—maybe a story for another day.

I digress. In this final edition of Security Bite for fiscal 2024, I updated a story that I started working on in May of last year. Because Apple is continuously updating its XProtect suite to combat the latest malware trends, this piece will continue evolving.

Ever wonder what malware macOS can detect and remove without help from third-party software? Apple continuously adds new malware detection rules to Mac’s built-in XProtect suite. While most rule names (signatures) are obfuscated, with a bit of reversing engineering, security researchers can map them to their common industry names. See below what malware your Mac can remove!


9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.


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Here are the best Apple ecosystem ‘magic moments’ you should know

We’ve all heard the term the Walled Garden when talking about the Apple ecosystem. Apple’s biggest competitive advantage is the fact that they control everything from both a hardware and software perspective, allowing its customers to experience these little features I like to call Magic Moments. These are smaller utilities or features that are only possible because you have multiple Apple products that work off of each other giving us these wow moments. So here are some of my favorite Magic moments of the Apple Walled Garden.

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Apple made a huge macOS privacy promise four years ago, but it’s still unfulfilled

macos 16 sequoia security fixes apple

Shortly after the release of macOS Big Sur back in 2020, Apple faced widespread server outages. The outage affected macOS installations, iMessage, Apple Pay, and most notably: the notarization service. This meant that users had major issues opening apps, revealing a flaw in how Apple handles app verification on the Mac.1

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New study finds organizations have a significant gap in security on macOS endpoints

apple security release page

9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.


A leading cybersecurity firm, Picus Security, has released its annual Blue Report study that analyzes the state of exposure management at organizations. The study uses 136 million simulated cyberattack scenarios executed by Picus customers from January to June 2024 to assess the effectiveness of security measures on Windows, Linux, and macOS systems in an organization’s environment.

In this year’s Blue Report 2024, Picus revealed a massive gap in macOS Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) misconfigurations leading to vulnerabilities.

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macOS Sequoia Top Features – awesome new Macintosh wallpaper, window tiling, and more [Video]

macOS Wallpaper

I recently did a deep dive into the macOS 15 Sequoia beta. Some of the headline features, like iPhone Mirroring, and Apple Intelligence, have yet to launch, but we can expect iPhone Mirroring to arrive with today’s release of beta 2. Yet, even without those features, there are more than enough changes and updates found in macOS Sequoia to keep things interesting!

In this hands-on video, I walk through dozens of new macOS Sequoia changes and features. Catch a glimpse of what’s new inside, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more macOS 10.5 walkthroughs and tutorials.

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Got an Intel Mac? Here’s the deal so far, and possible future scenarios

Got an Intel Mac | 2019 Intel MacBook Pro shown

If you’ve got an Intel Mac of up to six years old, there was mixed news for most when Apple announced macOS 15 Sequoia. Most Macs that can run macOS 14 can still run this year’s version – but Intel models unsurprisingly won’t get the headline Apple Intelligence features.

A historical analysis of how long Macs continue to support the latest version of macOS shows that – with a couple of exceptions – not much changed this year on the surface, but it does still leave the question of Apple’s future plans for its Intel-chipped machines …

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PSA: Many iOS 18 and macOS 15 features are not available in the first beta

iOS 18 beta 1

Apple today announced major updates to its operating systems during the opening keynote of WWDC 2024. Both iOS 18 and macOS 15 come with many new features, including iMessage improvements, more continuity features, and Apple Intelligence. However, not all of these features are currently available to beta users.

Read on as we detail which features announced at WWDC 2024 are yet to become available to beta users.

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Apple plans macOS 15 changes for the controversial System Settings app

macOS System Settings app icon

The Mac’s position as an established, decades-old platform means that any time Apple makes changes to the way that platform works, some pushback is expected. In macOS Ventura, for example, the company redesigned the System Preferences app to look and feel more like the iPhone and iPad’s Settings app. The rebranded System Settings debuted to some notable backlash, especially during the beta cycle.

Now, ahead of WWDC in a few weeks, AppleInsider reports that Apple is planning some changes for System Settings in the forthcoming macOS 15. Will they be enough to win over the app’s critics?

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Dual-boot iPad would be nuts, says former Microsoft president

M4 iPad Pro

A number of commenters have made the point that iPad reviews haven’t really changed in years. Each generation, the hardware gets better, and the software gets left behind. That has led some to suggest a dual-boot iPad, which can switch between iPadOS and macOS as desired.

However, former Microsoft exec Steven Sinofsky – who was President of the Windows division for several years – says this idea “is just nuts” …

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Security Bite: Did Apple just declare war on Adload malware?

apple security release page

Following the release of new betas last week, Apple snuck out one of the most significant updates to XProtect I’ve ever seen. The macOS malware detection tool added 74 new Yara detection rules, all aimed at a single threat, Adload. So what is it exactly, and why does Apple see it as such an issue?


9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.


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