by Dave Moore, CISSP, 06/13/2021
Much as I wish it wasn’t so, the mystique of the magic Apple Macintosh computer still runs deep in certain parts of our society. Because many people still don’t understand how computers work, or what they even are, they are easily conned into believing Apple Macs are magical devices somehow immune to many of the ills that befall other, mere mortal computers.
The cold, hard truth is this: Apple Macs, along with iPhones and iPads, are just machines, mechanical and electronic devices full of circuit boards and components not much different than their lowly relatives spawned in Windows and Android factories. Are Apple devices well-made devices? Yes, but they still require due care and diligence in order for you, the end-user, to stay safe and out of trouble.
Keep in mind, also, that Apple is not your friend. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Apple “has your back,” or cares about you as being anything other than a revenue source; they don’t. Even though Apple loves to pontificate about how they want to protect user privacy, the bottom line to them is money. This was made painfully evident again in recent revelations that they have turned control of Chinese user privacy over to the communist Chinese government. Read the May 17, 2021 New York Times article titled, “Censorship, Surveillance and Profits.”
Let’s look at what it takes to get maximum privacy during your Apple Mac experience. The following steps apply directly to my MacBook Pro running MacOS Catalina, though they will be similar or identical on other versions of MacOS. Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner, and select About This Mac to see which version you have.
Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner again, and select System Preferences. In the second row of icons, click Security & Privacy. Click the Lock symbol at the bottom left of the pane, and enter your system password to allow changes to be made.
Click Firewall, and make sure your computer’s firewall is turned on. For some mind-boggling reason, many Macs have it turned off by default.
Next, select Privacy. Uncheck “Enable Location Services.” Then, examine all of the following sections, and disallow apps requesting access to Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos, Camera, Microphone, Speech Recognition, Accessibility, Input Monitoring, Full Disk Access, Screen Recording, Automation, Analytics & Improvements, and Advertising.
Be aware you need to allow certain apps under Camera and Microphone if you use Zoom, Webex, GoToMeeting or other meeting apps. Pretty much everything else should be denied. Different computers will have different needs, depending on your situation. Some apps, like Mail and Time Machine Backups, may need full disk access. Others, like Safari, do not.
Make sure that, under Advertising, you check Limit Ad Tracking. Click Reset Advertising Identifier to disable any previous identifiers that may have been used. Click View Ad Information, and then About Advertising & Privacy to learn many of the ways that Apple has invented to compromise your privacy. Click the Lock again to save your changes.
Stop using the Apple Safari browser to visit websites. Use the superior Firefox browser, instead. Go to www.mozilla.com, download and install Firefox, and then read my column titled, “Use the safest Internet browser” from March 3, 2019, found on the Norman Transcript website, to enable the best Firefox privacy settings.
Set up a strong password to protect your Mac login. This may seem like a hassle, but if your Mac is ever lost or stolen, and it’s only protection is a flimsy, easy to guess password, all your privacy protections go out the window. Again, in Security & Privacy, click the General tab and create a strong password. Be sure to write it down first, and keep it in a safe place.
Be aware that many apps have their own individual privacy settings, which you should explore and make sure they are the best they can be.
Dave Moore, CISSP, has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd, he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or internetsafetygroup.org