macOS Threat Landscape Report

Apple’s desktop operating system has been steadily gaining ground in the past decade, and currently commands almost 18% of desktops worldwide – a 10% increase from 2013, according to Statcounter.

Macs are far less targeted than Windows computers, as Microsoft still rules the land with 63% of the desktop market. Threat actors are devoting time and resources to exploit the larger attack surface provided by Microsoft.

But while Apple users enjoy less risk due to the platform’s smaller footprint, Macs aren’t bulletproof. Apple finds itself consistently having to patch actively exploited vulnerabilities as threat actors employ social engineering vectors and spray-and-pray techniques.

Moreover, spyware vendors are increasingly targeting Apple’s iOS, which shares many common components with macOS, like the web rendering engine WebKit. As a result, threat actors are starting to attack Macs more efficiently with threats designed to exploit unpatched flaws and lax cybersecurity hygiene.