Anyone with a little bit of know-how, and physical access to your computer, has the ability to access your data. However, you can take measures to protect your privacy.<\/p>\n
Contents<\/p>
If you are worried by the prospect of someone else being able to access your data, make sure you have a password set up for your account. Also make sure that you have disabled\u00a0Automatic Login<\/em>\u00a0so that no one can access your account when switching on your Mac.<\/p>\n To disable\u00a0Automatic Login<\/em>, open\u00a0System Preferences \u2013 Accounts<\/em>\u00a0and click\u00a0Login Options<\/em>. You may first have to click the lock icon at the bottom.<\/p>\n Next, set your Mac to request your password when it is awoken from sleep (standby), or from a screen saver. You will find this option in the\u00a0Security panel\u00a0of\u00a0System Preferences<\/em>.<\/p>\n With this setting turned on, no one will be able to gain immediate access to your files, but that does not mean your data is safe. For example, anyone set up as an administrator on the computer can easily reset your password and log in. Even if you are the only administrator, someone with a Mac OS X install CD can reset your password. It is also possible to pilfer data by booting a Mac as a hard drive..<\/p>\n FileVault<\/em>\u00a0was introduced with Mac OS X v.10.3. This feature brings high file encryption to your home folder. It scrambles the folder so that even if someone can access your system by booting from the CD, or if someone removes the hard drive, they will not be able to access your files without your password.<\/p>\n One problem with\u00a0FileVault\u00a0<\/em>is that, since it encrypts and decrypts your data in real time, it can slow down your computer. Today, the effect should not be all that noticeable, but it still might bother you. Also, note that some users have reported strange problems that have been solved simply by turning off FileVault<\/em>.<\/p>\n To switch on\u00a0FileVault<\/em>, look in the\u00a0Security panel<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0System Preferences<\/em>. Before doing so, consider setting up a master password for your computer, if you have not done so already. This will serve as a backup in case you ever forget your account login password. Be sure to make note of this password, if you forget both, you will not be able to recover your files.<\/p>\n If you want to restrict access to certain files and folders, rather than restrict access to your whole account, the easiest option is to put the data you want to encrypt into an encrypted disk image file. It will be a bit like making a password-protected folder.<\/p>\n First, assemble the files you want to add to a folder to be protected. Then, open\u00a0Disk Utility<\/em>\u00a0from\u00a0Applications \u2013 Utilities<\/em>. Next, click\u00a0File \u2013 New \u2013 Disk Image<\/em>\u00a0from\u00a0Folder<\/em>, pick a name and location, choose either 128-bit AES or 256-bit AES from the Encryption<\/em> menu (the latter is more secure but takes longer to encrypt), and hit\u00a0Create<\/em>. When prompted, enter a password, and deselect\u00a0Remember password f<\/em>or extra security.<\/p>\n Alternatively, click the New Image<\/em> button to create a disk image of any size, which leaves room to drag in extra files later.<\/p>\n Your new disk image file will appear and be \u201cmounted\u201d as if it were a hard drive. Once all your private files are in the DMG file, you can delete or \u201csecure\u201d delete the original files. Next time you want to access the files, or add extra files to your protected area, double-click on the disk image file and enter your password. Keep the password in a secure place or, as with\u00a0FileVault<\/em>, your files will be lost forever.<\/p>\n Note that\u00a0FileVault<\/em>\u00a0and encrypted disk images are based on the\u00a0Advanced Encryption Standard<\/em>\u00a0(AES), a sophisticated system that marks a vast improvement over the\u00a0Digital Encryption Standard<\/em>\u00a0(DES). AES is essentially impossible to crack. According to Apple\u2019s calculations, a computer capable of cracking DES in a single second would take nearly 150 trillion years (longer than the life of the Universe) to work out your AES\u00a0FileVault\u00a0<\/em>or disk image password.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t want to use\u00a0FileVault<\/em>,\u00a0but you want to protect your files, or the entire computer, then employ the\u00a0Open Firmware Password\u00a0<\/em>utility (you can find it on your OS X software installation CD under\u00a0Applications \u2013 Utilities<\/em>). Once installed, the system will not allow any of the special start-up routines that can compromise security, such as booting from a CD or starting up as a target drive.<\/p>\n If, for some reason, you do need to boot from a CD, or use any other special start-up routine, hold down the\u00a0Command key + Option + O + F<\/em>\u00a0and power up your Mac. When the\u00a0Open Firmware<\/em>\u00a0prompt appears, type\u00a0reset-nvram\u00a0and hit\u00a0Enter<\/em>. Key in the password you created when installing the application, and hit OK. When the\u00a0Open Firmware<\/em>\u00a0prompt appears, type reset-all and hit\u00a0Enter<\/em>.<\/p>\n Computer users quickly accumulate lots of passwords. The typical user has passwords for internet connections, email accounts, websites, routers, network folders, online banks, disk images, and many more. When you enter a password on your Mac, OS X will usually offer to remember it. If you accept the suggestion, you will not need to enter that password again, as it will be stored in your virtual Keychain, and OS x will insert it when required.<\/p>\n Keychains are very handy, but if you are worried about someone being able to access all your passwords when you leave the room for a few minutes, you could ramp up the security by asking OS X to lock the Keychain, either permanently or after a period of inactivity. When locked, the Keychain will request your overall Keychain password before disclosing any information.<\/p>\n If you ever forget a password that has been stored on your Keychain, open\u00a0Keychain Access<\/em>\u00a0and locate the relevant item in the list. Double-click it and select\u00a0Show Password<\/em>. You will need to enter your Keychain password (the same as your account password unless you have changed it), and then the missing password will be revealed.<\/p>\n Note that by default, the Keychain password is the same as your account password, which is handy. However, it also means that if someone can access your account, they can also access your passwords. For even more security, you should change your Keychain password, or even add a second Keychain with a separate password.<\/p>\n All these changes can be made within the Keychain access utility, accessible from the\u00a0Applications \u2013 Utilities<\/em> folder. Click the padlock icon to toggle the lock on or off, or select\u00a0Change Settings<\/em> for Keychain Login<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Change Password<\/em>.<\/p>\n Deleting files:<\/em>\u00a0When the user deletes\u00a0Keychain Login (your default Keychain)\u00a0from the\u00a0Edit<\/em> menu,\u00a0it goes to the\u00a0Trash<\/em>, so anyone with access to the account can recover it. Emptying the\u00a0Trash\u00a0<\/em>stops this from happening, though in theory the deleted files could still be recovered using special recovery software. To prevent someone from recovering your deleted files, select\u00a0Secure Empty Trash<\/em>\u00a0from the\u00a0Finder<\/em> menu, and the files will be completely erased from your hard drive.<\/p>\n Private browsing:<\/em>\u00a0Your browser records all the websites you have visited in your history, cookies, searches and more. To prevent this, enable\u00a0Private Browsing<\/em>\u00a0from the\u00a0File<\/em> menu\u00a0in Safari. You can also choose\u00a0Reset Safari<\/em> to delete all the saved info.<\/p>\n Recent Items:\u00a0<\/em>If you do not want all your recently accessed files and programs, as well as any servers you have connected to, to be listed for all to see, go to the\u00a0Apple icon \u2013 Recent<\/em> items,\u00a0and click\u00a0Clear Menu<\/em>\u00a0in the bottom. Individual applications usually have a similar list in the\u00a0File<\/em>\u00a0menu.<\/p>\n If you are locked out of your account:<\/p>\n Unless you have a bad habit of saving or moving files to random places on the hard drive, all your private data is located in your home folder. It includes not just documents and movies, but all your e-mails, cache, saved passwords and everything else on your desktop. All of these are saved in your\u00a0Library.<\/p>\n If you just want to password protect some text information, numbers and the like, create a\u00a0Secure Note\u00a0<\/em>using\u00a0Keychain Access.<\/p>\n Be sure to also consider privacy threats on the internet and over your wireless network.<\/p>\n Anyone with a little bit of know-how, and physical access to your computer, has the ability to access your data. However, you can take measures to protect your privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMore Security<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
FileVault<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
How to Encrypt Files and Folders<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Open Firmware Password<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Password Keychains<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Other Privacy Issues<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Forgotten Password<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Tips<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
Links<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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