VPN provider Surfshark has investigated the extent to which Windows and macOS are at risk from malware and phishing. The result: Windows users face a risk six times greater than macOS users.
According to its own figures, the cybersecurity firm analyzed 391,305 malware detections logged by Surfshark Antivirus between January 1 and July 31. While Windows devices accounted for 66 percent of Surfshark’s active user base, they accounted for 92 percent of all threat detections. By comparison, only eight percent of threat detections were recorded on macOS, even though macOS users made up 34 percent of the user base.
Doing some quick math, that means Windows PCs have a threat-detection rate of almost six times higher than Macs.
Trojans pose the greatest threat to Windows users. Surfshark identified over 166,000 Trojan attacks on Windows computers, compared with just over 7,600 on macOS. For viruses, the comparative figures are just over 32,000 on Windows and around 2,900 on macOS.
As for riskware, Surfshark reports around 67,500 detections on Windows and 5,400 on macOS. Riskware refers to programs that are generally legitimate but which, due to their functionality, may pose a security risk. Examples include remote maintenance tools, data extraction tools, password managers, or server services.
However, macOS users shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security, as Surfshark warns:
Mac users still assume that their device is inherently more secure, which can make them far more vulnerable to social engineering tactics such as phishing than to conventional malware.
While phishing is the third-biggest threat to macOS users, according to Surfshark, it plays only a minor role for Windows users.
