Apple’s Craig Federighi has made a rare comment on malware on the Mac, calling current levels “unacceptable”.
His comments came as he was defending the closed-off nature of the App Store when testifying during the Apple vs. Epic lawsuit. Federighi said that the iPhone ecosystem was designed to be secure and trusted, and when asked why macOS has multiple App Stores, he said: “It is regularly exploited on the Mac. iOS has established a dramatically higher bar for customer protection. The Mac is not meeting that bar today.”
“Today, we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable,” he added.
He commented on Android and said Google’s way of allowing multiple App Stores ultimately led to more security problems. “iOS has succeeded so far in staying ahead of the malware problem,” he added in his speech.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering added that the company was playing an “endless game of whack-a-mole” when it came to malware on the mac, and said that the company has to block instances every week that could affect “hundreds of thousands of people.” He added that there have been more than 130 types of malware on the Mac, with one piece of malware alone infecting 300,000 Macs.
What are your thoughts on Federighi’s comments? Do you think this signals the start of a new era for the Mac, with a more closed-down App Store like iOS? Let us know on social media and check back soon for more.
