Securing Mac OS X Settings

Mac OS X Lion (and most older versions) has plenty of powerful and useful built in option to keep your Mac secure. We will optimize these to improve computer security.

1.  Automatic Apple Updates

You can start protecting your Mac by keeping your system up to date.

1. Select System Preferences Menu

2. Click Software Update

3. Select Automatically check for Updates

4. Make sure Download newly available updates in the background & Install system data files and security updates is checked

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

You can tell Mac OS X to check for updates daily, weekly, or monthly. Mac OS X will even give you the date of the last time it updated so you can see how out of date you may be.

Clicking Installed Software will cause Mac OS X to give you a list of all of your currently installed Apple software and give you the version number and date of installation.

It’s important to always keep your system updated. Apple has done an excellent job responding to virus and malware attacks. For example, a security update to remove the MacDefender virus was issued within a week after the malware’s first attacks. And as long as Apple continues to gain market share, more viruses will be written for Mac OS X. (While daily checks for updates may be tedious, it ensures that you are always getting the newest updates)

2.  Updating Third Party Software

Same issue applies for third party software as with Apple software. Being up to date ensures that you get all the latest bug fixes.

The Mac App Store (Snow Leopard or newer) conveniently gives you a little notice about how many updates you have for any applications you have downloaded from the App Store. Update when it shows you any number.

But what about all the other applications you have installed? You can download AppFresh (www.appfresh.com free). AppFresh will scan your system for all the applications you have installed and will match them with the application updates currently hosted by AppFresh’s application database (you can add to this database by adding it to your IUseThis account). With a simple click, you can download and install all of the updates. If AppFresh does not already have an application in its database, it will present you with a mini-browser and allow you to search for updates yourself.

Starting March 1, 2012, applications you purchase from the Apple App Store will have to be sandboxed, making them more secure.

3.  Make sure you are not using an Administrator account

While Mac OS X does not allow downloaded content to take any action without explicit approval from the user, it is important to provide a second line of defense and normally use a standard user account. It is especially important not to surf the web or read email with an administrator account.

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click Users & Groups

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

Make sure you have two accounts, and uncheck “Allow user to administer this computer” under your main user account. If your main account is the only Admin account, then you will be unable to uncheck this check box.

This means you have to make a new user account and make it the Administrator.

1. Click the plus button in the bottom left corner to make a new account.

2. Make the new account an Administrator and give it the name Admin

You can use Mac OS X’s Built in Password Assistant to randomly generate a secure password.

Click on the Key symbol next to the Password input field

Mac OS X’s Password Assistant can generate five types of passwords: Memorable, Random, Letters & Numbers, and FIPS-181 Compliant. You can adjust the length and it will display the security quality of your password. It will also give you tips on how to make your password’s better.

After you’ve created (and memorized) your password, you can go ahead and create your new account. Once this Admin account has been created you can go back and uncheck the Allow this user to administer this computer checkbox.

4.  Check to See What Files are Being Shared

Many times you can forget the last time you shared something from your Mac. It could be the Internet, files, or your screen. It’s important to make sure you are only sharing what you want to share with everyone around you. To see what is shared, navigate to the System Preferences window

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click Sharing

Unless you want to share files, Internet, or your own screen, you should disable all sharing features until used. If you frequently share files through Bluetooth, make sure you set Mac OS X to always Ask What to Do and only give Allowed users access to your Public folder.

5.  Lock up your Mac

Another way to protect your Mac is to have it automatically lock itself after it goes to sleep. To avoid accidentally leaving your Mac logged in while you’re away navigate to:

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click Security & Privacy

3. Click the drop down menu next to Automatic login: and set to Off

To be completely secure, it’s best to check all of the options as above. Some versions of Mac OS X may have the following options on this screen that can also be checked if present:

• Disable automatic login
• Use secure virtual memory
• Disable Location Services (if present)
• Disable remote control infrared receiver (if present)

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

6.  Encrypting Your Drives

Mac OS X File Vault is one of the easiest ways to encrypt your hard drive, Time Machine backups, or external hard drives. You can encrypt drives in a variety of ways.

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

1. Select Security + Privacy

2. Click FileVault

3. Click Turn on FileVault

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

Type in your password, and you should see a check mark next to the account you want to encrypt.

If you ever forget your password, you can use this “Safety Net Key” to recover, open, and decrypt your encrypted drive. Clicking helps prevent unauthorized changes.

Another method of encrypting your drives is using Mac OS X’s Disk Utility

1. Open Applications

2. Click Utilities

3. Select Disk Utilities

A new feature in Mac OS X Lion was added where you can format any drive whether it be a USB flash drive or an external hard drive as a Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) drive. This prevents users from stealing your data by mounting the drive without authorization.

7.  Keep Your Old Data Safe: Backup Today

Also built into Mac OS X, Time Machine is considered one of the best backup offerings and Apple is nice enough to give it to you for free in the operating system.

Whether you have an external hard drive or Apple’s Time Capsule hardware, setting up a new Time Machine is extremely easy. Daily backups are critical to prevent loss from accidents or malware.

Start off by plugging your external drive into your Mac, and launch Time Machine from your Applications folder. You can then choose which disk to use as a Time Machine backup, and encrypt the backups desired.

It is recommended you click the lock in the lower left corner, as shown above, in order to prevent unauthorized changes.

Extra settings are available, such as backing up while running off battery power, giving a notification whenever an old backup is deleted, or how long to wait until locking a document from being Auto Saved.

8.  Using Mac OS X’s Built-In Firewall

A firewall prevents unauthorized network traffic from reaching your Mac. Mac OS X’s Built-In Firewall is among the easiest to use firewalls on the market. You can access Mac OS X’s Firewall settings by going to:

1.Open System Preferences

2. Click Security & Privacy or Security

3. Select Firewall

4. Make sure it is On – Click Turn On Firewall if needed

We recommend also clicking Firewall Options and checking Enable stealth mode

Click the lock to prevent further changes.

Once your Firewall is started, all of your incoming network connections must ask for permission before any action is taken.

Once activated, you can access the Advanced… Menu from the same Firewall tab.

From the Advanced menu: configure which applications are allowed through your Firewall, and the extent they can affect your system. You can check “Automatically Allow signed software to receive incoming connections”. These signed applications are applications that have been verified by Apple to not contain malicious software. You can also enable Stealth mode if you don’t want your system to keep record or acknowledgment of the network responding to test applications using ICMP, or Ping. Checking Block All Incoming Connections is most secure but may be incompatible with some software.

9.  Using Mac OS X’s Account Settings

Adjusting some of the accounts settings helps increase login security:

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click Users & Groups

3. Click on Guest User Account

4. Uncheck Allow guest to log into this computer

5. Uncheck Allow guest to connect to Shared folders

10.  Adjusting Safari Settings

Safari requires a couple of tweaks to increase its security:

1. Open Safari

2. From the Safari menu, select Preferences

3. In the General Tab, uncheck Open safe files after downloading

4. In the Security Tab, uncheck Enable Java (note: Do not do this if you need to run a Java program, when in doubt, try unchecking it first.)

By configuring our Mac OS X operating system, we can significantly increase the security of our Macintosh MacBook notebooks and Macintosh desktops.

This concludes our Free Security How to: Computer Security, Computer Protection on Macintosh article. Other articles on Safegadget.com help you secure the other aspects of your personal computer, including How to Set up a Secure Wireless Network, and How to Secure Internet Explorer article, or How to Secure Firefox Article. Please see our other articles on security tips for your e-mail, iPad, online banking, online shopping, smart phones, and more.