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In response to the growing number of malware attacks on Macs, McAfee this week released Endpoint Protection for Mac, a single integrated management platform that includes antivirus and antispyware protection as well as a system firewall.
McAfee officials said the new security software suite supports Apple’s latest Snow Leopard release of Mac OS X as well as Leopard and Tiger. The applications are now available for purchase from the company’s Web site.
Macs — typically the preferred machine for universities, design and publishing companies and a fervent consumer fan base — have become more and more common in enterprise installations, making them all the more vulnerable and alluring to hackers and malware purveyors.
“The demand for Macintosh in the enterprise is steadily growing, yet organizations are either not using any security technology for these endpoints, or they are using a standalone, non-manageable antivirus protection solution,”said Peter Lincoln, IT director at marketing agency Aquent, in a statement. “We have to ensure that all our endpoints meet our security compliance requirements no matter what operating system they are running.”
The application provides the same console to manage Mac and Windows endpoints and incorporates McAfee’s ePolicy Orchestrator for at-a-glance security reporting.
The inbound firewall stops network-based attacks to Macs while the outbound firewall prevents spyware and other data-stealing programs from sending personal information to hackers, company officials said.
In April, security software competitor Symantec identified the first Mac botnet that spread throughout a software package that claimed to be a pirated version of Apple’s iWork application suite.