Mac Security Software Roundup

So far, Mac OS X users have been largely unaffected by the global plague of viruses, spyware, and other malware. Conventional wisdom holds that this relatively blissful state won’t last forever; as the Mac’s market share increases, it becomes a potentially more interesting target for the bad guys.

Even today, a Mac with all the latest security updates from Apple is vulnerable to a number of Unix-based exploits (such as those that affect certain Web forms). Spam, of course, is a constant hassle that plays no favorites when it comes to operating systems. And even though malware attacks are few and far between, those that occurred have caused tremendous inconvenience.

Here, then, is an overview of current Mac security software in the following categories: antispam, antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware, and security suites. This is not an entirely comprehensive list—for example, I’ve left out software that runs only on older versions of the Mac OS—but it includes the most popular and highest-rated choices.

(My personal picks in each category are shown in bold.)

Antispam

No Mac user (or anyone else, for that matter) should be without a good antispam program. Although some server-based systems do a pretty good filtering job, you’ll get the most accurate results from a tool that lets you train it on the mail you receive personally (correcting the software when it produces a false positive or false negative).

Last year I presented a roundup of six such programs for Mac here: Spam Filters for Your Mac: Six Choices.

A few things have changed since then. JunkMatcher still hasn’t been updated for Leopard compatibility, so it’s effectively off the list; ditto for Spamfire, whose last update was in March 2007.

On the other hand, Hendrickson’s Em@ilCRX has been superseded by the company’s new Purify program. Meanwhile, Personal Antispam, SpamSieve, and SpamSweep have all received significant updates.

Nevertheless, my bottom-line advice is essentially unchanged: SpamSieve is my top pick. Personal Antispam is quite good too, but includes a lot of other components I’d rather do without.

• Intego Personal Antispam X5 ($49.95)

• Purify ($29.95)

• SpamSieve ($30)

• SpamSweep

Antivirus

As of May 2008 (fingers crossed), there aren’t any Mac OS X viruses in the wild. (There are, however, several Trojan horses and a few other prominent examples of malware.)

So at this point, antivirus software can only protect Mac users against hypothetical threats. Only time will tell how well they fare when confronted with an actual virus infection. Sure, they can filter out Windows viruses (to prevent you from spreading them by email), but the combination of a decent spam filter and common sense can do an even better job at that.

For the time being, my professional opinion is that most Mac users can quite safely skip antivirus software. (For a Mac security expert’s perspective on this, see Rich Mogull’s article Should Mac Users Run Antivirus Software?) If you’re paranoid, however, or if you’re trying to conform to a corporate IT policy that requires antivirus software on every machine, no matter what, you have several choices.

Intego Virus Barrier X5 offers arguably the best protection of the bunch, but at a higher price than the others (even in quantity). Norton AntiVirus used to be the gold standard, but it’s lagged behind Intego in overall quality and speed in recent versions.

Meanwhile, several of these products are geared primarily toward large businesses—namely, avast! Antivirus, McAfee VirusScan, and Sophos Anti-Virus. If you want attractive high-volume pricing and the comfort of a big name in virus protection behind you, those are all worth considering.

The one product in this list I can’t recommend is the free ClamXav. Although it’s undoubtedly better than nothing, it’s relatively slow, doesn’t have all the automatic scanning features the other products do, and lacks definitions for some Mac malware.

• avast! Antivirus Mac Edition (licenses start at $39.95 per seat; prices decrease with quantity and license duration)

• ClamXav (free)

• Intego Virus Barrier X5 ($69.95)

• McAfee VirusScan for Mac (formerly Virex) (minimum order of 3 licenses; prices start at $36.55 per seat and decrease with volume)

• Norton AntiVirus 11.0 for Mac ($49.95)

• Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac (licenses start at around $27 per seat; prices decrease with quantity and license duration)