Clean your own house first

from here and here

I realize that Microsoft Defender is a lot better than MSAV was, and that it may even be good enough for PCs, but I don't think it's reached the point of making PCs safer than Macs yet.

In addition to that, I have difficulty imagining most Mac owners using an antivirus at all, never mind one by the makers of Windows. Many Mac owners joke that Windows IS a virus.

Maybe some day MS Defender for Macs will make sense, but not before they clean up their reputation and their own platform.

How not to put your own house in order

from here and here

I know that Macs get malware, and I know it's important to highlight that fact in order to combat the false impression (that Apple actively nurtured for years) that Macs don't get malware, however... When Microsoft draws attention to Mac malware it, it feels like it has a different meaning - like they're trying make themselves look better by making a competitor look worse.

"PCs, not Macs"

from here

Many people really did believe quite earnestly that Macs weren't going to have the malware problems PCs did. One otherwise smart individual even went so far as to perform an ill-conceived game-theory analysis to support that idea. The problem was even when that analysis was performed there already was malware for the Mac, and not just proof of concept malware either. There was financially motivated Mac malware that had been ported over from the PC platform. Now, however, we seem to have a sophisticated piece of Mac malware that has no PC counterpart - it's exclusively for the Mac.

Macs may never see the same volume of malware, but they are just as vulnerable to malware as any other platform, and they've been a target for years.

Easier said than done

from here (image source)

Every time a vendor issues a shoddy update it undermines what would otherwise be good security advice. For all effort Google seems to put into security research, their inadequate quality control harmed it by giving people yet another reason to avoid applying updates. Vulnerabilities and threat actors may be sexy security topics, but people are still failing at the basics like applying updates. Maybe Google should focus more on helping them with those basics.

A commercial said it so it must be true

found on Imgflip

Even though there are viruses for the Mac (and there were even when that stupid commercial came out) there are still people who believe this malarkey. Apple's misguided marketing will do incalculable harm because there's no telling when or even if this false belief will ever end.

I thought mono only made people sick

from here

Now I realize Mono isn't the malware here. It's a legitimate platform that enables a certain degree cross platform functionality. You know what also allowed things to be cross platform? Java - and look how that turned out. Java is notorious for being a vector of attack.

Even without the never-ending stream of vulnerabilities that came with Java, the simple act of allowing executables from a highly targeted platform (Windows) run on one whose defensive ecosystem isn't nearly as well developed is just asking for trouble. Especially now that the cat is out of the bag.

But I thought Macs were safe

found on QuickMeme

The myth that Macs don't get malware has been particularly pernicious, in part because Apple has actively promoted the idea for a long time. You don't want to find this out the hard way but they do actually get malware, there's just less of it going around.