macOS as an Increasingly Central Target in Contemporary Malware Campaigns
Objective-See’s 2025 macOS malware report shows how modern campaigns increasingly treat Apple environments as stable, persistent components of enterprise attack surfaces—revealing long-term visibility patterns rather than isolated incidents.
Objective-See’s annual 2025 report provides a year-end inventory of newly identified macOS malware families, documenting observed tooling and techniques across real-world campaigns without assessing impact or future risk.
The notable development in recent macOS malware research is not the existence of malicious software itself, but the extent to which observed campaigns now treat Apple environments as stable, persistent components of modern attack surfaces.
What was observed
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Who produced the analysis:
The Objective-See Foundation, an independent nonprofit focused on macOS security research. -
What was published:
Objective-See released its tenth annual inventory of newly identified macOS malware families observed over the prior year, spanning multiple tooling categories, persistence mechanisms, and operator behaviors. -
Where it lives:
Public threat research disclosure — “The Mac Malware of 2025” annual report. -
When it was released:
Published in early 2026, summarizing observed macOS malware activity during calendar year 2025.
The report is explicit in scope. It is a year-end accounting of newly observed macOS malware families, rather than an assessment of isolated incidents or a forward-looking forecast. Its analytical value lies in aggregation — presenting a consolidated view of how attackers interacted with macOS environments over time.
This framing is important. The report functions as a record of observed activity, not an alert, warning, or predictive statement.
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