Mac Hack – Still Think that Switching to Mac is Safe?

Mac Hack, Is a Rematch with Windows in the Workings?

I routinely get calls from Windows PC customers with all sorts of computer symptoms, but the cause is almost always precipitated from malware. Of these, some customers say that they are considering buying a Mac because they heard they are immune from malware. It has been true, a Mac hack is somewhat rare.

While it is very unlikely that a Mac would ever get infected, even without any antivirus software installed, it is a myth that Macs are immune to virus and other types of malware infections.

In the past, I always said that Macs didn’t represent enough market share to be of enough interest to the cybercriminals to focus their attention to infecting Macs as much as they do Windows PCs. But the fact remains that Macs can and do get infected with malware, but up until recent times, has been a fairly rare occurrence when compared to PCs.

Recent Widespread Mac Hack and other Apple Device Hacks

The first reports of recent hacks on Apple devices started in Australia, with iPhones, iPads and Macs. These Apple device owners claimed that their devices had been hacked. The hack is done by the attacker remotely locking their device so it can’t be used.

Prime targets for this hack are Apple device owners that don’t use passcodes, allowing the hacker to remotely lock their device using the “Find My iPhone” function. There are reports that the hack has reached the United States. The request for ransom to unlock the devices will direct you to a PayPal account.

While you can recover from this hack by visiting an Apple Store to reset your device, this procedure will cause you to lose all your data stored on the device. If your data was backed-up on iCloud, recovery will be less painful as i Cloud has not been compromised, but Apple has been urging users to change their Apple ID passwords and to avoid using the same username and password for multiple devices.

With all this said, it remains to be seen if Macs and other Apple devices will regain their reputation as being the safe alternative to Windows devices. For now, I say that you can still enjoy a reasonably trouble-free experience with Windows devices if you can make safe internet security practices second nature.