Apple made significant changes to macOS malware protection during 2022

Apple updated anti-malware protection tools to macOS. Now macOS scans for malware proactively.

Until XProtect Remediator arrived in macOS 12.3 last March, system tools for tackling malware were essentially limited to XProtect and MRT. XProtect was mainly used to check apps and other code which had a quarantine flag set, against a list of signatures of known malware, and can only detect. While Apple has broadened its scope to check more frequently, and continues to update those signatures every couple of weeks, they have their limits. MRT ran scans to both detect and remove (‘remediate’) known malware, most noticeably shortly after startup, but infrequently.

The Electric Light Company

References:

• macOS now scans for malware whenever it gets a chance
• Apple Has Made Major Updates to macOS Malware Protection in 2022
• Apple reportedly introduced major under-the-hood security updates to macOS this year