Thwarting malware

Here are the top three ways people get malware on their computers:

1. Email attachments
2. Malicious web sites
3. Email links

The good news is that a lot of the above is within our control.

First, don't open email attachments from people you don't know. And even if it is somebody you know, were you expecting an attachment on an email? Clicking attachments willy-nilly is a recipe for disaster, so let's not do that!

The same is true for email links. Don't just click things. Hover over them first. Does the hover text match the link description? If not, that's a potential warning sign. 

Malicious web sites can be difficult to deal with because it's not always easy to tell good ones from bad ones. Fortunately, these attacks tend to center around the software you're running on your computer. You are a lot safer doing your computing on a Mac (or iPhone or iPad), but some bad guys target specific programs that run on both Macs and PCs, so you have to be a little careful.

Here's a list of the software that is most commonly exploited:

1. Adobe Flash (27%)
2. Oracle Java (21%)
3. Internet Explorer (14%)
4. Mozilla Firefox (6%)
5. Adobe Reader (5%)
6. Microsoft Silverlight (3%)

Note that none of this software is installed on your Mac by default—you're going to have to actively go out and install this stuff to make your Mac more vulnerable. Obviously we recommend against doing that, particularly in the cases of Adobe Flash and Oracle Java. Like Adobe itself, we recommend that you remove Flash from your Mac if it's there.

Internet Explorer no longer runs on the Mac, so that's not an issue. Mozilla Firefox has its proponents, usually because it's similar on both the Mac and PC—the very thing that makes it a more delicious target for malware exploits. We're not recommending against Firefox—we use it as a backup web browser to Safari ourselves—but we definitely want you to be aware that you add risk in using it.

Adobe Reader is sometimes necessary since occasionally PDF forms are only readable with Reader. Apple's built-in Preview handles 95% of the PDFs out there, though, so we don't recommend Reader unless absolutely necessary. If you do use it, you must keep it updated. 

Like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight has been depreciated and is no longer recommended by, well, anyone. If you have it installed you should remove it unless you need it for something mission-critical. 

Malware is an ongoing problem, but there are steps you can take to help keep your Mac safe.