Have you ever wondered what makes the Mac so secure? If you’re coming from Windows you probably When you bought or opened your new Mac, did you wonder if it required an antivirus?. Personally, I have always believed that macOS has a secure environment, mostly because Windows executables are different from macOS. In this article We will crash XProtect, the virus detection system running on macOS and this protects the security of your entire Mac environment.

What is XProtect in macOS

We must be clear that viruses and any applications designed to execute malicious code pose a danger to us and our Mac. A virus is a virus that consists of a “small piece of code” It is characterized by being quiet. In this situation, Malicious code may be embedded within an application or software Its purpose is to harm our Mac through the operating system or devices associated with it.

This is the direct cause of antivirusIn this case, they are more popular on Windows but are also available on Mac and some mobile phones. If you installed Avast software and heard a sound saying that the virus database is being updated, this is one of its main functions: Look for YARA signatures and known application codes and then compare them to previously tested malware previously.

XProtect is a solution that comes integrated with macOS 10.6 Snow Leopard in the distant 2009. In general, it is not an application that pretends to be an antivirus, quite the opposite, runs in the background and is available the first time you open an app. When macOS has a major update for quick security responses, it is because XProtect has been updated to a valuable extent. It also runs on the APFS file system, and if malware is detected, your intervention will be requested to eliminate it.

So you can see XProtect in action

Thanks to this Apple support article that reveals everything about XProtect, we can see that the antivirus mechanism in macOS is working.

you have to Hold down the Option key while selecting System Information in the Apple menu located in the menu bar. You should do it now Select the Software section and then Installations. By the end of the list, you’ll be able to see every time XProtect has been updated on your Mac.

When XProtect is running

It’s special to see this on a Mac that’s no longer updated and remains on macOS High Sierra. Remember when Apple promised you’d always have security updates even if you no longer updated your operating system? This is part of Cupertino’s commitment to its users.

This is how third-party developers “certify” their apps and make sure Apple scans them for malware

In a previous iPadizate article where we taught you how to install an unknown app, it was thanks in part to XProtect that prevented us from doing so in case Apple couldn’t notarize it. What does this mean? Each Apps that are part of the App Store or installed externally must be approved by Apple to ensure they are free of malware. On the other hand, those from Cupertino create a signature for each version of the application It will be included in the XProtect file.

XProtect available in macOS settings

If you pay attention, you will be able to see whether an application passes the XProtect filter in the Software section we referenced before. In this case, developers need to handle their own notarization via commands.

Said notarization works with Gatekeeper and Apple’s Developer ID In this case, it’s just verifying that an app outside the App Store is free of malware or viruses. When you open an app for the first time, three security mechanisms come into play to authenticate it.Before confirming its launch, macOS will always warn you if you want to do so.

This is what an alert for possible malware looks like and you can report it to Apple

Apple constantly updates security signatures

Inside In case XProtect detects malware or any type of threatThose from Cupertino revokes any certificates associated with the developeras well as issuing warnings through the issuance of cancellation tickets for all developer-related files. Finally, New XProtect signatures released to update all Macs with operating systems both old and new.

This is when having macOS over Windows really becomes valuable, although they have improved recently in terms of antivirus by including Windows Defender. But macOS has been working secretly for years to make sure your security is always top of mind. In the latest version of macOS Sequoia, Apple has added important new security features.

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