as there are no true viruses on the macOS platform.
Flat WRONG. There are quite a few viral exploits coded up for Unix/Linux generally,
and Mac's specifically, trojans and worms, too. Every MacOS has CVEs logged against it. Maybe not like Windows, but still, plenty. Furthermore, owing to Microsoft's inclusion of VB in the Office suite, there's a vector for script kiddies.
Most users won't have a malware problem. If problems were a 1:1 certainty, conversations about tech in general would be very different. On the other hand, most users wouldn't realize they've been pwned. Really shrewd malware operators do not inflict acute harm on their victims in obvious ways, such as stealing money, ransoming data, identity theft, etc. The really clever ones silently enroll victims' computers in command and control networks, and use them as storage and distribution nodes. Occasionally, a node might be harvested or killed if the return is worth it, like if there's decent coin to exfil, or industrial intel finds a buyer.
In almost every case, though, the system user is involved to at least make contact or receive the first malicious payload. THAT'S the point where the Mac's inbuilt defenses can be compromised. Once a user engages, the malware is off to the races. And of the user operates with admin permissions, it's even easier. And some users are so frustrated by warnings that they DISABLE MacOS safeguards altogether. Ludicrous, right?
The debatable value of running on-access virus scanners at intake points - such as messaging and removable media - is that it might screen for the Windows payloads and clean them up a bit. MS Office and Acrobat PDF files are notorious for trojan exploits, even though statistically, most wouldn't execute on a Mac, prolly even fewer now on M-Silicon.
Regardless of safeguards in the OS, we each have to keep our end of the deal (a deal most folks don't realize they signed with all the devils). That means upgrading to keep patching current and keeping up-to-date safeguards fully engaged. Anyone too defiant, or too complacent, to keep their side of the street clean, is part of the problem.
