OS X users carry years laughing cruelly of Windows users because they were the only ones who had problems with malware. The same happened with Linux users, although it must be clarified that in the case of the penguin's operating system, security threats have had more to do with serious holes such as GHOST than with malware o crapware themselves.
Going back to OS X, now it's your users who are enjoying a healthy amount of crapware that can infect your operating system. Before continuing, What is this crapware? Basically these are programs that come with installers of other applications, which the user does not want and which, if he does not realize it while he is getting the program he does want, or through tricks, will be installed on his computer without his knowledge.
Installer of a search engine ransomware, which hijacks our browser's search engine, using a fake installer of the VLC player
Having already made the due presentations, something must be said in favor of OS X: Under all the load of a visually very attractive system and, why not say it, very beautiful cosmetic aspects, hides a raw Unix kernel. This is a great advantage as it offers a native protection against the worst types of viruses.
How does this protection work? Well, just like in Linux. There is a folder tree in which each user account has its defined space, and if you want to access the part that has permission to modify the system with serious consequences, it is necessary perform privilege escalation, something that is quite difficult to achieve automatically, especially when all the system passwords are encrypted.
However, that OS X has this type of protection does not imply that you are free to receive crapware, spyware o adware at this stage. East in most cases it is not illegal, basically because it tricks the user into installing it As mentioned before, and by sneaking into computers, it hijacks web browsers, inserts ads and tracks our searches, among other things.
With the boost OS X has received As a user operating system in recent years and with the worldwide increase in its market share, what has been achieved is that the Apple operating system has come out of the "happy anonymity" in which it was maintained for this class of programs and there is managed to be the target of this crapware. As I think I have commented on other occasions -and for the record that I am a Linux user, but I believe that certain issues must be treated with equanimity- Windows is no worse operating system for having a lot of malware designed for him. Rather, what happens is that worldwide it is the most used system.
Packaged Crapware: Windows Craze Comes to OS X
Crapware packaged in a CNET installer, similar to Softonic's
If you think this is not so bad, ask any average Windows user. You've probably already had to get rid of Delta Search a few times, and you and your MacBook might as well. This type of ransomware and many spyware arrive packaged in legitimate application installers.
Through this kind of crapware packaging can be sneaked onto your computer not just search engines ransomware that replace yours by default, but they can even inject spyware to track and extract data from secure sites such as your bank's website.
The thing is, this issue on OS X every day it's getting worse. It still falls short of Windows levels, where every misstep can represent a fatal error, but it might not take long for the same situation to occur. The "next, next, next" times are behind us, just like for users of Microsoft's operating system.
The App Store: Solution and problem at the same time
The remedy for many ills is to encourage more the use of the App Store among developers
Of course, the App Store continues to be a reliable source to obtain , but not all developers distribute their products through it and in many cases what is sold are old versions of programs that, if we want to keep up to date, we have to go to their website -in Linux, without going any further in Ubuntu, it happens the same in some cases-.
The solution to this problem is that Apple remedy this situation, since today it is the most reliable source to get legit securely, without crapware and without packages with strange offers. And who says Apple can say Canonical or Linux Mint, whose stores of they also need a thorough review.
This fashion of the crapware packaging it is already starting to go multiplatform, and for the moment the only thing that saves Linux is that it does not have enough presence in the market to worry developers of this type of cyber scams, but this could change in the future, especially with the rise of Ubuntu and its derivatives.
Ultimately, nothing has ever been 100% inviolable. In these times, even how little you could have a certain confidence is showing weaknesses, and some of us wonder when something will appear capable of automatically achieving privilege escalation on Unix systems like OS X and Linux.