Your Mac could be facing threats from even more malware: report

People love using macOS for plenty of reasons: its simple navigability, its built-in suite of creative-minded tools, and y'know, the whole Apple fanboy thing. But the OS's perceived security remains one of the biggest draws for picking a Mac over a Windows device.

That security, however, may be at risk. McAfee Labs' latest Threats Report, published at the beginning of the month, shared some potentially sobering news for Mac users: There's been a massive spike in new malware targeting macOS, resulting in a more than 700 percent increase in the malicious software from just the year before. The influx came during Q4 2016, the last quarter for which data has been gathered.

McAfee recorded nearly 350,000 new malicious samples on macOS—and more than 460,000 reports of malware affecting macOS overall—during the quarter. That's an exponential increase from Q3 2016, which posted barely 50,000 new samples. The year before had even fewer instances of the nasty software, as Q4 2015 barely registered any new reports.

The increase in malware comes as more people buy Apple's computers and use its OS, as Fortune notes.

There is a bright side, though: McAfee says that the majority of the malware came from adware bundling, which looks to deluge your web browsing experience with popup ads. It's annoying, sure, but it's preferable to truly malicious software that aims to take over your laptop or knock your computer out of commission.