What monitoring catches between scans
An email attachment can open without any visible sign that it is harmful. Malware may continue working quietly, so a computer that seems to run normally is not necessarily free of threats.
Security software can inspect downloads, examine attachments when they open, check programs before execution, and screen websites for harmful content. Monitoring can continue after installation: an app that tries to retrieve saved browser information or starts unexplained processes may be flagged or blocked.
Recognizing a known malware signature is only one way to detect a threat. Behavior-based detection looks for suspicious activity, which can help identify a new variant that is not yet in the software's database.
A warning should explain what triggered it and give the user options. For an installer with unwanted extras or suspicious behavior, quarantine is often preferable to immediate deletion. It isolates the file while the user determines whether it is dangerous.
Scheduled scans serve a different purpose: they search files already on the device for threats that may have escaped earlier checks. They cannot undo password theft that occurred before the scan. Real-time monitoring aims to intervene sooner, checking a file on arrival, again when it opens, and while it runs. Using both approaches provides broader coverage than either alone.
Macs also face malware risks
Built-in macOS protections do not make Macs immune to malware. Installing software from unfamiliar sources or disregarding security warnings can still expose a device to risk.
In Moonlock's Mac Security Survey 2025, 66% of Mac users said they had encountered at least one cyber threat during the previous year. The share of respondents who believed macOS was immune to malware fell to 15%, compared with 28% in 2023.
Moonlock Lab's macOS threat report, published in December 2025, recorded 67% more registered macOS backdoor variants and 17% more stealer variants in 2025 than in the previous year.
The same report described the Atomic macOS Stealer, or AMOS, as reaching peak dominance in August 2025. Detections spiked 300%, with tens of thousands of infections that month, before AMOS vanished in October 2025.
Fraud extends beyond malicious software
A scam does not always need to infect a device. Someone may instead persuade a user to disclose a password, authorize a payment, or transfer money to a fraudulent account. Antivirus software may not prevent those actions; checking the request remains part of the user's defense.
The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report documents the scale of reported harm. Its Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, received 1,008,597 complaints, compared with 859,532 in 2024. It was the first annual total above one million. Reported losses reached approximately $20.9 billion, up 26% from 2024.
Cyber-enabled fraud represented 45% of all complaints but 85% of reported losses. That amounted to 452,868 complaints and $17.697 billion in losses.
Investment fraud accounted for $8.6 billion in reported losses. Within that category, cryptocurrency investment fraud was the single largest source of reported financial losses to Americans, at $7.2 billion. Across complaints involving cryptocurrency, IC3 recorded 181,565 complaints and more than $11.3 billion in losses.
Business email compromise ranked second among loss categories, behind investment fraud, with $3.046 billion reported. Complainants age 60 and older submitted 201,266 complaints and reported approximately $7.7 billion in losses.
Phishing and spoofing remained among the most frequently reported complaint types. The FBI report also highlighted scammers' use of AI-generated messages and cloned voices.
Verify urgent requests independently
A bank warning delivered by text is a reason to check the account through the bank's official app or website, not through the message's link. When a caller demands immediate action, end the call and contact the organization at a number listed on its official website.
Requests apparently sent by friends or relatives need verification, too. Before sending money to someone who claims to be in trouble, reach them at a number you already know. A convincing message is not enough to establish that the request is genuine.
Alongside those checks, keep devices updated and use their available security protections. Pause before opening an unfamiliar file or trusting an unexpected message or payment request.
Act quickly after a fraudulent payment
If you discover that you have paid a scammer, notify your bank immediately. Describe the transaction and ask whether it can be stopped, recalled, or recovered. Speed may improve the chance of recovery, but it does not guarantee that the money will be returned.
IC3's Recovery Asset Team initiated 3,900 Financial Fraud Kill Chain incidents in 2025. The FBI reported that $679,013,183 was frozen out of $1,163,919,846 in attempted theft, a 58% success rate. Those figures illustrate why prompt reporting can matter, not a promise that every fraudulent payment can be recovered.
