Free Antivirus for Macs

Sophos released free antivirus software for Macs today. There's been a lot of debate whether Macs need antivirus, given there are only a few samples of malicious software detected in cyber space. Though I won't attempt to give a definitive answer in this post today, I can say that beyond detecting any vulnerabilities aimed at Macs, the Sophos software also detects viruses aimed at Windows machines. If you are a dual user of Windows and Mac machines this could be helpful in detecting viruses that your Windows machine might already carry, and therefore not identify within an antivirus search. And even if you're not susceptible to a certain virus or vulnerability with your Mac, that doesn't mean you might not still be unknowingly forwarding it to other people.

Antivirus programs are not a surefire way of keeping your computer clean, but they almost always keep your system a bit safer than it was before. Just last week, the Boonana Trojan horse surfaced, specifically targeted at Macs. Also in an update to Snow Leopard in June, Apple patched for a Trojan that would be distributed by attackers disguised as iPhoto. I haven't had too much time to play with Sophos because it just came out, but I'll be sure to give it some testing.