Using this method, it quickly becomes apparent which antivirus solution requires too many resources in everyday use, thereby slowing down a Mac system.

AV-TEST examined 13 solutions for home and business users in terms of their protection and potential loss in performance on the Mac.

In terms of packages for home users, 6 out of 9 products detect all attackers 100 percent; in packages for business users, the figure was 3 out of 4.

And even if many Mac users will not readily admit it: they are ever more frequently on the target list of malware authors.

In 2016, Kaspersky Lab already tallied 12 million attacks only on its Mac users.

The malware threats for MacOS registered by AV-TEST grew by nearly 38,000 samples in 2017 alone.

It is just fine with ransomware thieves if, in addition to holding up Windows users, they can also rip off Mac users.

Even the best packages in the test require hardly any additional system resources for their performance.

The Top 10 is still led by Flashback, but new malware is surging to the front of the list.

In no previous year was there such an increase in newly-registered malware samples than in the year 2017.

The solution for business users detected the malware in the test 100 percent and caused an additional system load of merely 0.5 percent.

The first 9 on the list are for home users: Avast Security 12.9 Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac 6.1 Comodo Antivirus 2.2 F-Secure Safe 17.0 Intego Mac Internet Security X9 10.9 Kaspersky Lab Internet Security for Mac 18.0 Sophos Home 1.2 Symantec Norton Security 7.5 Trend Micro Antivirus 8.0 4 solutions for business users ESET Endpoint Security 6.5 McAfee Endpoint Security for Mac 10.2 SentinelOne Next Generation Endpoint Security Software 2.0 Sophos Central Endpoint 9.6 All versions were evaluated under identical iMacs running on MacOS Sierra 10.12.6.

The solutions were installed in the test as additional protection for MacOS Sierra.

None of the security packages switched off the internal protection functions of MacOS Sierra.

High detection rates for many security packages In the test involving packages for home users, a total of 6 out of 9 packages detected the 514 selected MacOS attackers: Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky Lab, Sophos, Symantec and Trend Micro.

Intego overlooked a few malware samples, yet still attained a good 99.4 percent.

F-Secure delivered a somewhat weaker performance with 93.8 percent.

The security package from Comodo only detected an unacceptable 38.1 percent.

Among the solutions for corporate users, the products from ESET, SentinelOne and Sophos detected all attackers 100 percent.

Endpoint Security from McAfee experienced a minor detection error: 99.6 percent.

In an additional test, the detection performance of Windows files was also evaluated.

While these are innocuous on a Mac, in a mixed network, malware could thus hide on a Mac especially when it is used as a server.

For consumer users, the packages from Bitdefender, Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro demonstrated superb detection rates between 99 and 100 percent.

Likewise, high detection rates among corporate solutions were reached by ESET, McAfee and Sophos.

Lots of protection with a low system load In the past, many Mac security packages demonstrated a conspicuously high system load.

The fact that those days are now over can be seen in the test segment on speed.

In evaluating this criterion, the testers copied a selection of files on a reference system encompassing a volume of 27.28 GB, clocking the time necessary for the operation.

In addition, various downloads were performed, and these times were also recorded.

The exactly identical copying procedure and the same downloads were then repeated with each security solution installed, and the times were measured.

Best Malware Protection For Mac 2016