If you’re committed to protecting the privacy of your Mac, you should take the time to check whether or not the security settings on your Mac are adequate. Therefore, It’s a great idea to verify the privacy settings in order to avoid being a victim of the next big security breach or scam.
There are no foolproof solutions for protecting your Mac and your privacy, but following these 11 recommendations should make it extremely difficult for attackers to breach your privacy.
Use a VPN
If you use public Wi-Fi often, think about installing VPN software. By encrypting your data, the best VPNs for macOS will protect your Mac from attackers sniffing the network and attempting to capture data in search of sensitive user information. So, always opt for the best VPN for macOS to keep you safe.
Set up a standard account
When you set up your Mac for the first time, the macOS setup assistant creates your first-ever user account. While it can be handy, an administrator can make errors, and they may edit or remove files, critical to the Mac. By creating a standard account, you will have rights on your Mac (limited access), but it can be handy for day-to-day business — to be safe.
Using a regular account does not give full-fledged malware protection, it does guard against a few malware types and can provide a signal if anything is wrong. It can also keep you from deleting files you didn’t intend to delete. To use two accounts is a minor inconvenience that is well worth attempting in order to avoid potential catastrophes.
Install a two-way firewall
Inbound network protection is provided by Apple’s built-in firewall. However, incoming firewalls only protect against specific types of threats. With the rising prevalence of new viruses and targeted attacks, implementing many levels of protection is the best defense.
Be aware of software that prompts you to reduce the security of your Mac.
While some genuine apps necessitate this, many spyware attempts to persuade users to bypass this security in order to be installed. Ensure that you are only installing authorized software to avoid granting malware complete access to your Mac.
Don’t enable automatic login.
If your automatic login is enabled, whosoever finds your Mac or even steals it will simply need to start it to get your files access. So make sure this option is disabled on your Mac.
Try password manager
While difficult, unique passwords are recommended to keep your Mac safe, it also means that the more complex your passwords, the simpler it is to forget them.
Password managers allow you to access your typical passwords by remembering only one master password, so use a password manager if you want enhanced security without difficult passwords driving you crazy.
Use Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention
The information acquired about you while you surf the web is one of the most major risks to your privacy. Trackers on websites collect your data, identify you and your behavior, and sell it to advertisers.
To minimize the amount of data collected by websites, Apple’s Safari web browser employs Intelligent Tracking Prevention. If you disable this setting in Safari for a while, you can monitor the shocking number of trackers banned.
Keep Find My Turned On
The Find My app does more than simply track your device; it also locks it and lets you wipe the data on it if you lose it or if it gets stolen.
Linked to your iCloud account, Find My is an excellent way to protect your Mac as it lets you use iCloud.com or any other Apple device to find your lost Mac, mark it as lost, or erase the data on it.
Avoid file-sharing illegally.
Not only is it unlawful to install pirated software, but it also risks compromising your personal information. In recent years, a large amount of Mac software has been laced with malware, and downloading it is exceedingly dangerous – so avoid it at all costs.
Establish a proper backup solution
Having backups in multiple locations is the best option in case you lose your data. It’s critical to have a backup of crucial data (or a clone of your entire system) on an external hard disc.
You can synchronize files between two Macs so that each machine gets the most recent, up-to-date files, and you can also generate a bootable backup in case your system fails, and you can’t access your files.
Don’t leave your Mac unattended and unlocked.
If you leave your Mac unattended, even if for a few seconds, you must prevent snoopers from stealing your data by locking it. You can enable a feature that asks for a password to open your Mac when the screen saver is activated or when it goes to sleep.
Conclusion:
There are numerous ways to lose data on your Mac, and each one is all the more reason to protect your information on a regular basis. Whether you use a personal computer or a public computer, use the above-mentioned 11 Mac-hardening security tips listed above to secure your Mac and your data, and you’ll thank us later!