Moonlock - The new cybersecurity offering from MacPaw

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MacPaw, the studio behind software offerings like Setapp and CleanMyMac X, unveiled its latest offering in a YouTube stream today: moon lock. This consists of Moonlock Lab, which conducts security research and makes its results publicly available, and from the Moonlock engine. The latter is now available as a free update as a new module for CleanMyMac X. It replaces and accelerates the previous module for finding and removing malware on macOS. So far, Moonlock has focused on the Apple Mac, but expanding the range to other systems is not out of the question.

Moonlock – MacPaw today unveiled its new cybersecurity offering. This consists of the "Moonlock Lab" research group, which makes its results publicly available, and the "Moonlock Engine" for detecting and eliminating malware on the Apple Mac.
Moonlock – MacPaw today unveiled its new cybersecurity offering. This consists of the "Moonlock Lab" research group, which makes its results publicly available, and the "Moonlock Engine" for detecting and eliminating malware on the Apple Mac.

Introduction with a general insight

MacPaw is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary. In those 15 years, over ten high quality products have been released for the Apple Mac. Two of the currently best known are Setapp and CleanMyMac X. But Gemini, Wallpaper Wizard, Encrypto, ClearVPN and SpyBuster are also included. The removal of malware has been offered in CleanMyMac X since 2018. 

In 10, to celebrate MacPaw's 2018th anniversary, CleanMyMac X was released with malware detection. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, this range is now being expanded to include Moonlock technology.
In 10, to celebrate MacPaw's 2018th anniversary, CleanMyMac X was released with malware detection. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, this range is now being expanded to include Moonlock technology.

However, as the Mac becomes an increasingly attractive target for cybercriminals, MacPaw's efforts in this field are now being significantly expanded. Because the data security of the users, so was emphasized again today, is a core principle of the company. That's why the previous offer is now being expanded to include "Moonlock". The corresponding information was available in the YouTube stream on the subject.

MacPaw introduces Moonlock as a new cybersecurity division

MacPaw and Setapp are known for conducting and publishing surveys to provide an assessment of the Mac and app market. Here in the blog we have repeatedly dealt with corresponding studies in recent years. The latest Mac Security Survey 2023 is now available on the Moonlock website (PDF file). Based on the various surveys, the importance of Moonlock and other cybersecurity efforts was highlighted.

Some of the information from the Mac Security Survey 2023 published by MacPaw.
Some of the information from the Mac Security Survey 2023 published by MacPaw.

Because the Mac is not only becoming the target of well-organized attacks in companies, organizations, politics, journalism and the like. The broad masses of private users are also being exposed to more and more malware. At the same time, more than half of those surveyed believe that the Mac is not susceptible to malware; while some do not use the issued updates for the system and the installed apps to keep them safe.

Not only this contradiction encourages MacPaw in the new Moonlock efforts, but also the 45% of users who feel that they are not doing enough for data security. And also the 52% of respondents who want professional advice or professional solutions for cybersecurity. Moonlock is supposed to start with the website https://moonlock.com/ provide lots of information and advice. And the Moonlock Engine in CleanMyMac is meant to serve as a convenient solution. MacPaw Moonlock wants to make cyber security accessible to everyone. 

The two new MacPaw offerings: Moonlock Lab and Moonlock Engine

Here is a brief explanation of what the new offers are:

  • Moonlock Lab: Experts who take care of research, localization of dangers and analysis of them - as well as making their results publicly available. If new threats are found for the Mac, then their detection is enabled in the Moonlock engine.
  • Moonlock engine: A technology that is now included as a free update in CleanMyMac X for better detection and removal of malware on the Mac. Not only is it twice as fast as the previous anti-malware engine, it also supports additional locations such as external drives, email attachments, archives and browser extensions.
The new Moonlock engine in CleanMyMac X. Not only is malware detected faster, but it can now be searched for in many more places. This makes the Mac even more secure.
The new Moonlock engine in CleanMyMac X. Not only is malware detected faster, but it can now be searched for in many more places. This makes the Mac even more secure.
In the settings you can specify whether there should be a background scan, which additional locations (e-mail attachments, archives, USB data carriers, etc.) should be examined and how strong the malware scan should be.
In the settings you can specify whether there should be a background scan, which additional locations (e-mail attachments, archives, USB data carriers, etc.) should be examined and how strong the malware scan should be.

MacPaw Moonlock: Post-Presentation Questions and Answers

After the presentation of the new offer, there was a live question and answer session in the stream. Questions could be submitted via the YouTube chat. They were answered by Vira Tkachenko (MacPaw CTO), Oleg Stukalenko (Moonlock Lead Product Manager) and Dmytro Bilkun (Moonlock Product Marketing Manager). There was an indication that the Q&A session would have to be suspended if there was an air alert. Luckily that didn't happen.

The following additional information can be summarized from the questions and answers:

  • The Moonlock Engine is only available in CleanMyMac X for the time being, new apps and integration into other offers will not be available until 2024 at the earliest.
  • A new way of communicating with the software is to be achieved. This could happen via AI, but no exact details have been revealed yet.
  • However, AI should only be used for serious problem solving and not as a toy that is integrated because everyone feels it is currently using it.
  • Moonlock may also come later for other operating systems, but for now the focus is solely on macOS. 
  • Cybersecurity was an important issue for MacPaw even before the war, but attacks on the company have increased since then. Therefore, the topic has become even more important, so that there is even more focus on Moonlock.
  • Moonlock is not yet designed to monitor network traffic (incoming and outgoing Internet requests). For that will spybuster empfohlen.
  • Adware is one of the most commonly found malware on Mac.
  • In addition to dangers for the Mac, the same can also be used as a transmission path for Windows malware. However, Moonlock cannot initially detect Windows malware. The focus for now is on threats for macOS, but those for Windows are earmarked for a later update. 
  • A precise schedule of future updates and extensions of the Moonlock Engine or their use on other systems cannot yet be given. After all, the offer is only just starting today and it still has to be developed.

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