The Practical Guide to Mac Security

Before you sell or give away your Mac, you should log out of all of your accounts, wipe the hard drive and re-install the original operating system that came with your Mac. You can do this by booting in a special Internet Recovery mode.

The Private Window feature in Safari is handy, but perhaps not for the reasons you think. It does not really provide any security or hide your browsing activity from your ISP or work IT department.

You may not think it is important to set a Wi-Fi password in your home. But without one, the data being sent from your Mac and other devices may by unencrypted and easy for someone to snoop. You should set a password and also be wary of public Wi-Fi that does not require a password.

Old-fashioned file sharing can still be useful at home or work, but it opens up a security vulnerability if you connect to a public network.

If your Mac is stolen you may be able to track it if you have enabled the Find My Mac feature. This will also let you remotely wipe your Mac in some cases.

A simply battery system can protect your Mac from short power outages and let you gracefully shut down your Mac in the case of longer ones. A UPS can also be used on your Wi-Fi system to prolong your Internet connection in case of a power failure.

Local backups are easy and provide a lot of protection, but online backups provide off-site backups which will protect you in case both your Mac and local backup are destroyed or stolen. They are also handy for users who travel often.

MacBook users should consider using macOS’s built-in encryption. This prevents someone from stealing your Mac and accessing your data. Without FileVault, it is possible from someone to get to your data even if they can’t log on to your Mac.

If you use cloud storage, such as iCloud Drive or Dropbox, then you have a certain amount of protection since the files live on remove servers. This can make recovering from a physical disaster or theft very easy.

Great overall security protection is provided simply by backing up. In addition, this protects you from physical disasters, theft, or simply your own mistakes. Every Mac user should get an inexpensive backup drive and start using Mac’s built-in backup system.