Here are some of the most crucial in terms of malware analysis directories and their purpose:
- /Applications: This location is automatically used to install apps shared by all users.
- Library: There are multiple library directories that can be used by apps:
- ~/Library: The directory in the current user's home directory.
- /Library: A location to store libraries shared between users.
- /System/Library: This location can be used only by Apple.
- /Network: Stores a list of computers accessible via the local network.
- /System: Contains system-related resources.
- /Users: Contains user home directories. Each contains its own subdirectories, including user-specific Applications and Library folders (the last one is hidden on more recent versions of macOS).
There are also several other directories hidden from the users as they generally don't need to use them, such as /Volumes, which stores subdirectories for mounted disks, or Unix-specific directories, such as /bin,...