The vast majority of antivirus companies that publish security software for the Macintosh started with a Windows product first, but not Intego. For well over 20 years, Intego’s central mission has been protecting Apple products. Intego Mac Internet Security, the latest release, is more than just an antivirus. It also includes a full-featured firewall that both blocks attacks from outside and manages network permissions for programs loaded on the Mac. Intego (accent on the first syllable) is effective against Mac malware, according to one lab, and the presence of a firewall component is welcome, but we’d still like to see detection of malware-hosting URLs, phishing frauds, and other dangers of the web.
How Much Does Intego Cost?
With a list price of $49.99 per year for one license, Intego costs more than most Mac antivirus software. The most common price for one license is $39.99, a price shared by Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, ESET Cyber Security for Mac, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Webroot. Those with more than one Mac get a better per-device price. A three-license subscription for Intego costs $66.99 per year, while for $84.99 you get five licenses. In addition, Intego offers a full personal firewall, something you don’t get with most Mac antivirus tools.
Norton’s price of $104.99 per year for five licenses reflects the fact that it offers a full suite of protection, not just an antivirus. You can use those five licenses on any combination of macOS, Windows, and Android devices, and you also get five no-limits licenses for Norton’s VPN. With a $59.99 per year McAfee subscription, you’re free to protect every macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS device in your household. Or you can choose not to spend any money at all; Avast, AVG, and Avira Free Antivirus for Mac are completely free.
Intego supports operating systems as far back as Mavericks (10.9) and, of course, anything newer. That’s good news for those rare Mac users who don’t (or can’t) upgrade to every new version. ProtectWorks goes a tad farther back, with support for Mountain Lion (10.8) or later in the current versions.
Others have more stringent requirements. You need Mojave (10.14) or better to run Kaspersky or Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac. McAfee and Norton want at least Catalina (10.5).
Getting Started With Intego
Anybody can download Intego and install a free trial. If you’ve bought a serial number, you enter or copy it at the beginning of the install process. As usual, you must give the antivirus Full Disk Access and other essential permissions. Unlike most macOS antivirus tools, Intego requires a restart at install. Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac is one of very few others with a restart requirement. Once Intego downloads the latest malware definitions, it’s ready to go.
Clicking Intego’s icon in the menu bar at top reveals three components: NetUpdate, NetBarrier, and VirusBarrier. NetUpdate simply manages product and malware definition updates. NetBarrier is the firewall, which I’ll discuss below. Naturally VirusBarrier is the main event.
Down the left side of the main window you find a list of possible targets for scanning. On my test Mac, this includes an icon for the whole Mac along with icons for each of its hard drives. ClamXAV and ProtectWorks both include a similar list of targets, though ClamXAV’s list includes important folders such as Downloads and Documents. The main both of the window contains an image representing the selected target displaying Intego’s castle logo along with information about the most recent scan.
The main window also gives quick access to real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and Safe Browsing. A simple set of tabs across the lets you switch from the main scan screen to a list of quarantined files and another list of files you’ve chosen to trust.
Lab Certification Achieved
Mac malware isn’t as prevalent, varied, or virulent as what you find on Windows, but it still exists, and the independent labs that perform Mac security testing find plenty of samples to use. As for my own hands-on testing, my programming skills are Windows-specific, as are my samples. While I can do extensive hands-on testing of Windows antivirus, I rely more on the labs to identify which Mac products are most effective.
When I last evaluated it, Intego appeared in lab results from both AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives. At that time, it scored 100% detection against Mac malware and also did well when AV-Test challenged it to block less-risky PUAs, or potentially unwanted applications. AV-Test has cut back the number of products in its latest tests and doesn’t currently include Intego, but it’s good to know that it did score well in past tests. And it retains AV-Comparatives certification.
Intego’s documentation points that it also detects Windows-centric malware, so your Mac doesn’t become a carrier of contagion, spreading infection to Windows boxes. At the time of my last review, it scored poorly at detecting Windows malware, managing 28% with AV-Comparatives and 0% with AV-Test. This time around, it pulled its AV-Comparatives score up to a shiny 100%, and managed 97% against those pesky PUAs.
Having excellent scores from one lab puts Intego in good company. Kaspersky earned a perfect score from AV-Comparatives, and Norton from AV-Test. Only Avast and Bitdefender managed perfect scores with both labs.
Scanning and Scheduling
A quick scan of my test Mac finished in less than two minutes. The macOS antivirus products that offer a quick scan tend to be very quick—Intego’s performance matches the current average.
Intego’s full scan of the system took 11 minutes to finish, less than a third of the current average, which is 36 minutes. Only Webroot, Airo, Clario, and CleanMyMac came in faster in their latest timing tests. I do have to wonder about CleanMyMac’s definition of a full scan, given that it finished in just one minute. A second Intego scan didn’t run any faster, but then, it’s already quite speedy.
I’m not equipped to test using real-world Mac-specific malware, but I do have plenty of samples from my Windows-centered testing. I copied those to a thumb drive which I mounted on my test Mac. Intego immediately scanned the drive and very quickly detected 72% of the samples. That’s better than in my previous review, when it caught just 18%, but others have done much better. Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus for Mac tops the list with 97% detection, while Avira and Sophos manage 90%.
I observed that the detected malware samples remained present on the USB. However, I had no trouble opening Quarantine and selecting Delete All to remove them. The similar task in my test of ProtectWorks required that I delete each found item individually.
Webroot, McAfee, and several others not only support scheduled scanning, they also enable a scheduled scan (typically once per week) by default. Intego’s scanning isn’t on by default, but it’s prominent on the main window. For each scan target you can choose a full or quick scan and run it on a daily or weekly basis
It’s worth noting that some Mac security products skip scheduled scanning entirely, figuring that real-time protection will smack down any new malware that pops up after the initial full scan. Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Sophos Home Premium for Mac are among those that eschew scheduling.
Safe Browsing Isn’t What You Think
Intego’s main window has a prominent panel that reports on the status of Safe Browsing. At first, I figured this referred to a browser extension that would keep users from visiting malware-hosting pages, fraudulent (phishing) pages, and other dangers. That is, after all, a standard feature for Mac antivirus utilities.
Digging a little deeper, I found that all this feature does is check whether you’ve enabled the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Intego doesn’t offer its own protection in this area. In the antiphishing chart below, you can see that almost every other product does attempt such protection, and almost every one of them is more effective than the protection built into various browsers.
Several competing products demonstrate that it’s most definitely possible for a macOS antivirus to detect and defend against phishing frauds. McAfee, Norton, and Webroot all scored a perfect 100% in this test.
NetBarrier Firewall
While you can open it from Intego’s icon in the screen-top menu bar, the NetBarrier firewall is totally separate from the main VirusBarrier antivirus. At first launch, it asks you to identify the current network as Home, Work, or Public Hotspot. Naturally you can change this as necessary. It also displays an instructional overlay pointing out the product’s main features. That overlay only appears at first launch, but if you dismissed it too quickly you can bring it back by clicking the Help link.
In Home or Work mode, the firewall allows all local network traffic but blocks any unsolicited connection attempts from the internet. An animated diagram that takes up half the window illustrates this setting, with arrows representing incoming internet traffic visibly hitting a barrier. If you switch to Public Hotspot mode, unsolicited local traffic is also blocked. It works a lot like the firewall in McAfee AntiVirus Plus for Mac.
In Home mode, your Mac can freely function as a server, and file-sharing features are enabled. If you switch to Work mode, NetBarrier pops up a query when a program attempts to use these features, and allows them only with your approval. This distinction isn’t visible in the app; I had to dig into the help to learn about it. At the tough Public Hotspot level, it simply blocks file-sharing and server-related features.
For testing purposes, I enabled the Public Hotspot mode. NetBarrier quickly warned me that Chrome was attempting internet access, and asked whether to block or allow it. I found that clicking for advanced options displayed the precise URL involved, and gave me the opportunity to block or allow all access or just the specific domain.
With McAfee, all Apple-signed binaries get full access by default. For unknowns, you can set it to block, allow, or prompt. Here, too, it works a lot like Intego. Intego also has an option, disabled by default, to trust any app that has a valid digital signature. Given that about one in five of my current Windows malware samples has a digital signature, I don’t advise turning on that option.
Firewall experts can create exceptions, rules that allow very specific types of connections that the firewall would otherwise block. However, this functionality is far beyond the abilities of the average user.
Good for All-Mac Households
With Intego Mac Internet Security, Mac users get both antivirus and firewall protection, which to an extent justifies its slightly higher price point. One lab certifies its protection against Mac malware, which is good. Its promised ability to detect Windows-centric malware improved greatly in testing, though it’s still not up with the best. Firewall protection is great to have, for sure, but we’d also like to see a feature that would help keep fraudulent and malicious URLs at bay.
If you’re in an all-Mac household and want to throw your business to a company that’s always focused on protecting Macs, you could consider Intego. But for a general-purpose Mac antivirus that will get along with your other devices, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac remains an Editors’ Choice. If you want the expanded protection of a security suite, not just antivirus, consider Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac or Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac, our other Editors’ Choice Mac antivirus apps.
