Can Macs Get Hacked? Major macOS Security Threats in Recent Years

The Myth That Won't Die

"Macs don't get viruses."

This belief has been around since the early days of personal computing, when Windows machines were drowning in malware while Macs seemed untouched. And there was some truth to it — Mac's smaller market share made it a less attractive target, and macOS's Unix foundations provided genuine security advantages.

But the landscape has changed dramatically. Mac's enterprise market share has grown. Attackers have followed. And the threats facing macOS today are more sophisticated, more targeted, and more frequent than most Mac users realize.

Why Mac Is Becoming a Bigger Target

Market share is growing

Mac's share of enterprise endpoints has been steadily increasing. More Macs in corporate environments means more valuable targets — these machines access company data, source code, customer databases, and financial systems.

Attackers go where the value is

Individual Mac users were never particularly interesting to sophisticated threat actors. Enterprise Mac users — developers with access to production systems, executives with confidential information, finance teams with banking access — absolutely are.

The "no antivirus needed" belief is an advantage for attackers

When an organization doesn't monitor its Mac fleet because "Macs are safe," those machines become the path of least resistance. Attackers know this.

Real Threats to macOS: What Has Actually Happened

macOS-specific malware is real and growing

Silver Sparrow (2021): Discovered on nearly 30,000 Macs across 153 countries, Silver Sparrow was one of the first malware strains built natively for Apple Silicon (M1). It was distributed through malicious installer packages and had the ability to execute commands remotely. What made it notable: it was specifically designed for the newest Mac hardware, showing attackers actively investing in macOS capabilities.

Shlayer (2019–2023): The most prevalent macOS malware family for several years running. Disguised as Adobe Flash updates or other legitimate-looking installers, Shlayer bypassed Gatekeeper through social engineering — convincing users to right-click and open, overriding macOS protections. It installed adware and potentially unwanted programs that hijacked browsers and collected data.

XCSSET (2020–2022): A particularly insidious threat targeting Mac developers. XCSSET infected Xcode projects — the IDE used to build Mac and iOS apps. When a developer opened a compromised project, the malware activated, stealing browser cookies, Safari data, and even modifying Safari itself. It exploited multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in macOS.

MacStealer (2023): An information-stealing malware sold as a service on Telegram. It targeted macOS Catalina and later, stealing iCloud Keychain passwords, credit card data, cryptocurrency wallets, and browser credentials. Notable for its low barrier to entry — anyone could buy access and deploy it.

Zero-day vulnerabilities are regularly discovered

Apple regularly patches zero-day vulnerabilities in macOS — sometimes with emergency updates marked as "actively exploited." In recent years:

• Multiple WebKit vulnerabilities allowed remote code execution through malicious web content
• Kernel vulnerabilities provided attackers with the highest level of system access
• Security framework bypasses allowed malware to run without triggering Gatekeeper or XProtect

When Apple issues an urgent security update with "Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited," that means someone was already using it to attack real Macs.

Supply chain attacks target the development pipeline

Modern software development relies on thousands of dependencies. Compromising a single popular library or tool can infect every application that uses it — including those built on Macs.

• Compromised npm, PyPI, and Homebrew packages have been discovered containing macOS-specific malicious payloads
• Developer tools and IDE plugins have been trojanized to target Mac development environments
• The build pipeline itself becomes an attack vector when Mac build servers aren't properly secured

Mercenary spyware targets high-value individuals

Nation-state level spyware like Pegasus and Predator has been documented targeting iOS and macOS users. While these tools primarily target journalists, activists, and executives, they demonstrate that Apple platforms are not immune to the most sophisticated attacks available.

Apple has responded with Lockdown Mode and threat notifications, acknowledging that even its platforms face advanced persistent threats.

What This Means for Organizations

"Mac doesn't get viruses" is no longer a defensible position

The evidence is clear: macOS faces real, active, and growing threats. Any security strategy that excludes Mac from endpoint protection is leaving a known gap.

Mac security requires Mac-specific tools

Generic security tools designed for Windows and adapted for Mac miss macOS-specific attack vectors and often cause compatibility issues. Effective Mac endpoint protection needs to understand macOS at the system level.

Visibility is the first step

You can't protect what you can't see. If your organization has Macs without endpoint monitoring, you have no way of knowing whether they've already been compromised.

Patch management matters

When Apple releases emergency security updates for actively exploited vulnerabilities, how quickly do your Macs get updated? If the answer is "whenever the user gets around to it," that's a window of exposure you're choosing to leave open.

What You Can Do

1. Acknowledge the reality: Mac is a real target. Plan accordingly
2. Deploy Mac-native endpoint protection: Use tools designed for macOS, like Jamf Protect, that leverage Apple's Endpoint Security framework
3. Enable visibility: Monitor your Mac fleet the same way you monitor Windows endpoints
4. Automate patch management: Ensure macOS security updates are applied promptly across your fleet
5. Educate users: Mac users who believe they're immune to threats are less likely to follow security best practices

KlickKlack: Helping Organizations Secure Their Mac Fleet

As a Jamf MSP Partner, KlickKlack helps organizations move from "Macs are safe" to "our Macs are secured":

• Deploy Jamf Protect for real-time macOS threat detection
• Establish compliance baselines across your Mac fleet
• Integrate Mac security events into your existing SIEM and SOC workflows
• Implement automated patch management to close vulnerability windows

The myth that Macs don't get hacked has been disproven. The question is what your organization does about it.