Percentage of malware on macOS 6.2% compared to 54% on Windows and 39.4% on Linux

Elastic, a “platform for search-powered solutions,” has released its 2022 Elastic Global Threat Report, which explores threat phenomena and trends. 

The report says that when it comes to the percentage of malware by OS, 54.4% of it was found on Windows, 39.4% was on Linux, and 6.2% was on macOS. For the malware found on macOS, Elastic found that almost 50% of it came from just one source, MacKeeper.

From the report: “For MacOS file signatures, MacKeeper ranked the highest at ~48% of all detections, with XCSSet in the second-place position at not quite 17%. MacKeeper is a utility software suite for macOS endpoints designed to help optimize resources and monitor internal resources. While its initial purpose is to aid MacOS users, often it can be abused by adversaries since it already has extensive permissions and access to processes and files.”