While installing Malwarebytes Installer.app was added to Full Disk Access alongside it.

ParanoiaKo wrote:

Any answers to this would be appreciated. Thank You.

Installer is an Apple app. And it's just a wrapper around lower-level tools that do the actual work. There is no reason for it to be listed in Full Disk Access.

Even if a malicious app did want to install some kind of backdoor, Apple's installer would be a poor choice. There are so many better ways to do that.

The Full Disk Access setting should only allow end-user input. Apps can't add anything to that list - at least, in theory. This particular entry is target #1 for malware developers and Apple's biggest competitors looking for "exploits" they can use as anti-Apple marketing.

All that being said, Apple's user-facing security sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. For example, if I did want to install a backdoor, there's absolutely nothing preventing me from naming my backdoor "Installer" and using the same icon from Apple's version. There's no obvious way for you to tell the difference. What you can do is right-click or control-click on "Installer" and choose "Show in Finder". That should come up with something that looks like:

Note the path bar at the bottom.

The most logical explanation is that you mistakenly added it for some other issue and forgot about it since it didn't work anyway.

It is probably no reason for concern.

In any case, it is not necessary to have MalwareBytes running continuously in the background.

While this is a respectable program (unlike the plurality of "antivirus" programs out there), it will be wasting resources if running continuously. Instead, you may run it manually from time to time.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

it is not necessary to have MalwareBytes running continuously in the background.

... it will be wasting resources if running continuously

I have MBytes running live (what MBytes calls Real-Time Protection) for years and have never detected any "wasting of resources" or noticeable impact on performance, ever. Many years, many different Macs, different versions of macOS. Just sayin' ...

Unfortunately there is no way to identify it unless you actually have such an app still on your Mac somewhere which may give you a clue. If turning off Full Disk Access doesn't affect any of your apps after a month or so, then you can try deleting it from Full Disk Access.

I also agree with @Luis Sequeira1 that there is no need to have MalwareBytes running 24/7. In fact MalwareBytes should only be needed if you suspect you have installed malware or adware, even then there are other ways to identify those things & remove them without the use of a third party app. It should be rare that MalwareBytes is needed if you practice safe computing habits such as those outlined in the following article:

Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community

MartinR wrote:

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

it is not necessary to have MalwareBytes running continuously in the background.

... it will be wasting resources if running continuously

I have MBytes running live (what MBytes calls Real-Time Protection) for years and have never detected any "wasting of resources" or noticeable impact on performance, ever. Many years, many different Macs, different versions of macOS. Just sayin' ...

There is no reason to run MalwareBytes continuously. Doing so uses system resources while providing no benefit. Run it manually as necessary.

[Edited by Moderator]

In a user-to-user community there will be differing experiences & opinions. On the topic of MBytes, my experience is obviously different from your opinion. The developers at MBytes would also disagree with your assertion that it "uses system resources while providing no benefit."

That's all I'm going to say here.

[Edited by Moderator]