Rich Mogull @rmogull
When it comes to your security, the
latest versions of Windows and OS X are comparable, but you still have a few
key differences and settings to become familiar with.
First, to put your mind at ease: OS
X 10.8 is very secure overall. It includes many of the same inherent
protections as Windows 8 does, despite being attacked far less frequently.
Antiexploitation technologies, firewalls, sandboxing, and other tools are built
in, with mostly sensible default settings. Some tools, such as encryption, are
easier to run. Apple also includes interesting security features that take
advantage of the Mac App Store to further reduce your security risk, depending
on how you like to buy your software.
Your biggest switching decision is
whether to use antivirus software. Unlike with Windows, antivirus software
isn’t a necessity on a Mac, but it may be useful depending on your habits.
Without further ado, here’s a basic
guide to your Mac’s built-in security features.
Same
basic settings, different locations
The core principles for safe
Internet computing remain the same, whether you use a Windows PC or a Mac. Keep
your system up-to-date, be careful what you click on, and be careful about what
software you install. While you have many ways to fiddle with the security
preferences on your Mac, we’re going to focus on the most important ones and
highlight key differences from Windows.
Here
are the three panes inside System Preferences for managing most of the security
settings.
System Preferences: You manage most security settings through the System
Preferences application, located in the Applications folder. (You can also find
a shortcut to System Preferences in the Apple menu and, by default, in the
Dock.) A quick note: To change security settings, you may need to first click
the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the window and enter your password.
Keep current: To stay safe and avoid nasty security problems, we
recommend keeping your application software and system software up-to-date. You
can choose whether the computer should automatically check for and download
such updates in the background by going to System Preferences > Software
Update.
All your system software updates
come through the Mac App Store. Your Mac prompts you with a system notification
when new updates are ready; clicking the notification launches the Mac App
Store. You can also see what updates are available at any time by going to the
Apple menu and choosing Software Update.
The Mac App Store also offers
updates for any Mac apps you may have bought through the store. For third-party
apps purchased outside the store, you might have to go to the company’s website
to grab updates—many apps, however, will prompt you about available updates
when you launch them.
Manage your user accounts: Managing user accounts is similar in the Mac OS and
Windows; OS X just has a slightly different organization strategy. Some
settings are in the Users & Groups system preference pane, while
others are in Security & Privacy.
OS
X includes a guest account login by default.
By default, your Mac allows for
guest access; it allows friends and guests to work on your Mac in an empty user
account. When your friend is finished and logs out, the account is wiped. You
can manage this feature in Users & Groups; to control when passwords
are required, however, you have to go to Security & Privacy > General.
You can also enter the Parental
Controls preference pane to add specific restrictions to the Guest User
account or any other account on your machine.
Add firewall protection: Your Mac’s built-in firewall isn’t quite as robust as the
Windows one, as it won’t automatically adjust itself based on the network you
are on. This limitation is okay, though, since network attacks aren’t nearly as
common as they used to be.
Go to System Preferences >
Security & Privacy > Firewall to turn on the firewall; it works
similarly to the Windows Firewall by default, blocking incoming connections on
a per-application basis. If you want, you can also block all connections under
‘Firewall Options’.
Unlike Windows, your Mac doesn’t
include an outbound firewall, but you can always add one if you wish by
installing a third-party program such as Objective Development’s Little Snitch.
Built-in antivirus support: Your Mac includes a (very) basic antivirus feature (called XProtect or File Quarantine) that operates in the
background to keep you from running into trouble while you’re browsing the Web.
It’s similar to—though not as powerful as—Microsoft’s Security Essentials.
Safari, Apple’s built-in Web
browser, doesn’t have all the same protections found in the latest version of Internet Explorer, but it still offers several
great security options, such as the ability to allow Java—an oft-hacked
technology available as a plug-in—only on specific sites. By default, Java
isn’t even installed on your Mac, so you can eschew using the plug-in
altogether if you prefer.
OS
X’s built-in security
OS X includes two powerful security
features that aren’t available on consumer versions of Windows.
Full hard-drive encryption: Encrypt your entire hard drive (and external hard drives)
with FileVault. You can find it by going to System Preferences > Security
& Privacy > FileVault. It’s similar to Microsoft’s BitLocker—but that utility is
available only in the Windows Enterprise and Ultimate editions, whereas
FileVault is available for all OS X users.
FileVault is reliable, and generally
it doesn’t affect system performance. It’s ideal for laptops, and it even
includes a recovery option that you can use in case you forget your password.
Meet your Gatekeeper: The Gatekeeper feature (go to System Preferences >
Security & Privacy > General and look under Allow Applications
Downloaded From) restricts what kind of software you can install on your Mac.
By default, you can download and launch software only from the Mac App Store
(all of which Apple has prescreened and approved) and from websites of
registered third-party developers. You can change these settings to allow
downloading and launching software from the Mac App Store and nowhere else, or
open up your Mac to software from any location.
Gatekeeper
can limit your app installations to just those downloaded from registered
developers and the Mac App Store.
Your Mac’s default settings largely
reduce the chances that a bad guy will trick you into installing malware. You
may be tempted to allow all apps, but we suggest leaving the default setting as
is and opening any app that doesn’t qualify (but you know you want to install)
by Control-clicking it and choosing Open. By doing so, you tell
Gatekeeper that you purposefully want to bypass its security controls when
opening this specific app.
To
antivirus or not?
The biggest security question we get
from people who first switch to a Mac is: “Should I install antivirus?” The
answer, for most users, is no—with a few caveats.
If you use Gatekeeper, keep Java
disabled, and use an email service—such as Gmail or iCloud—that filters out
known malware, the odds of your Mac ever getting infected with malware are
minuscule. Switch to Google Chrome, and you further reduce those odds.
Why can you get away with no
antivirus software on a Mac? Some antivirus firms say they see 65,000 new
Windows malware variants every day, while Macs get a handful or two
every year. The numbers are in your favor.
If you still insist on buying
antivirus software, however, or if your company requires your computer to run
such a utility, you can find a few reputable applications for the Mac, such as Sophos’s free Anti-Virus tool.
Welcome
to security
Overall, while it may not have as
many bells and whistles as you’re used to, your Mac’s security requires much
less active effort on your part to maintain than a Windows system does. As a
switcher, you can go to bed at night knowing that you just moved to a
safer—even if it’s not perfect—neighborhood.
