Your Mac computer is an incredible piece of technology straight out of the box,
and once connected to the web, it becomes even more impressive. However, as well as opening up
a world of opportunity for you and your Mac, the internet also presents a world of risks.
Fortunately, there are things you can do - best practices - to keep you, your Mac, and your data
safe when you're online. In this video, I am going to share ten of those tips with you.
OK, let’s get into it.
**Enable and use a strong Mac password**
When you first set up your Mac, you'll be prompted to create a computer password.
This password is separate from your iCloud password and is the one you'll use to log in
to your computer each time, unless you're using biometrics, which we'll discuss in
a moment. You'll also need this password each time you want to install new software,
among other things. It's essential to set up a good password rather than skip it,
as it could help keep people out of your computer in case it's ever stolen.
A strong password should be at least 12 characters
long and include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
As I mentioned earlier, you'll be prompted to set up this password during the setup process.
However, if you weren't able to or if you want to change your existing password, follow these steps:
Open System Settings and choose Touch ID & Password. At the top of the screen,
you'll see "A login password has been set for this user," and you'll have the option
to change it. If you haven't set one up, you'll be able to do so from here.
Furthermore, if your Mac offers Touch ID, which is available on most new Mac models from the past
18 months or so, make sure to enable it. You can save up to three fingerprints per user,
and while you'll still need to input your password occasionally,
having Touch ID enabled makes your Mac more secure while relying less on passwords.
**Use your Mac’s password manager**
Staying on the topic of passwords for a moment, you should also make use of
your Mac's built-in password manager, iCloud Keychain. Passwords, especially secure ones,
are challenging to remember, especially as you should be using a unique one for each online
service you use. Writing them down in a paper notebook is fine until someone gets hold of it,
and writing them in a note on your Mac is simply not secure. iCloud Keychain remembers
your passwords in a secure and encrypted way, and not only will it remember them on your Mac,
but if you have other Apple products, it will remember them there as well.
To enable iCloud Keychain, open System Settings, click on your Apple ID at the top left of the
window, then click on iCloud, and ensure that Passwords & Keychain is toggled on, as shown here.
Now, whenever you attempt to log in to a website, your Mac will offer to remember
the username and password for you and offer to autofill the details moving forward,
all protected by your login password or Touch ID if you've enabled it.
**PIA VPN Integration**
In a video all about Mac security, it would be a bit remiss of me to not mention using a VPN,
and a VPN that I often recommend here on the channel is Private Internet Access, who are
also sponsoring today’s video. Using the internet without a VPN is a bit like keeping your wallet
in your back pocket - it might be fine most of the time, but all it takes is one quick-handed thief,
and all your money is gone. Essentially, whenever you connect to the internet without a VPN,
be that on your laptop, or your phone or your tablet, you’re transmitting a massive
amount of personal data over an unencrypted connection, meaning that anyone who’s able to
intercept that data could make use of it. A VPN, otherwise known as a virtual private network,
hides your IP address and safeguards your internet connection through an encrypted tunnel,
shielding your digital life from the eyes of those who might want to access it.
But with loads of VPNs out there, why choose PIA? Well, they have a no-log policy that they’ve
successfully defended in court, meaning that they don’t store any data about you,
the VPN user. Their VPN is fast, has great server coverage of 84 countries and every US state,
they work with all the major streaming services, and their VPN works on all your devices, whether
that’s Mac, PC, iPhone, Android, Linux, you name it, they support it. Oh and it’s risk free,
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Why not try them out by signing up via the link in the description of this video,
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**Enable Find My Mac**
Find My is a tool that allows you to track items such as your iPhone or keys if you've
attached an AirTag to them, but it can also be used on your Mac. While it's most useful
on a MacBook, you can even enable it on a desktop Mac like a Mac Studio or Mini,
which is good to know in case it's ever stolen.
To enable Find My on your Mac, go to System Settings, click on your Apple ID at the top
of the window, select iCloud, and make sure that Find My Mac is toggled on.
With this feature enabled, you'll be able to use the Find My app on another Apple device or
via **[iCloud.com](http://icloud.com/)** to locate
your computer's last known location. If your Mac is ever lost or stolen,
this information can be extremely useful to help you locate it or provide to the authorities.
**Keep your software up to date**
Developers are continually updating both the operating system software for
your Mac and the apps that you use on it. However, to benefit from these updates,
you need to download and install them. You can do this manually or automatically.
Manual updates are good if you know that you run specific software or hardware on
your computer that could be negatively impacted by an update, and you want more control over
things. But if that's not the case for you, I generally recommend setting automatic updates.
To access the software update settings, open System Settings, click on General, then click on
Software Update. Your computer will check to see if an update is currently available. If an update
is available, you can view the details or click on Update Now to begin the process of updating.
Above that, you have an option to turn on Automatic Updates. With this feature enabled,
your computer will automatically download and install updates when they become available,
usually at night in the days following the update's release.
**PDF Shoutout**
By the way, if you prefer to have content like this in a written format, there’s a PDF
to accompany this video, and you can access it by joining my membership programme, where for a small
monthly fee, you’ll get access to all video PDFs moving forward, plus the growing library of old
ones. Just follow the link in the description of this video that says ‘Become a Channel Member’.
**Use Two Factor Authentication**
Two-factor authentication is a security method that uses a separate device to authenticate
something you're doing on another device. For example, if you want to set up a new Mac computer
with your Apple ID, with two-factor authentication enabled, you'll have to confirm that it's you
trying to set up the new computer by entering a code from a text message or confirming on your
iPhone or another Apple device in your name. This is essential, especially with so much data in the
cloud these days, as it prevents someone from logging in as you on a different Mac computer.
Enabling two-factor authentication is easy. Go to System Settings, click on your Apple ID, then
select Password & Security. In this section, make sure that two-factor authentication is enabled.
You'll need to enter a trusted phone number here if you haven't already. This should be the phone
number you can use to receive verification texts, although if you have other Apple
devices connected to the same Apple ID as your Mac, you can receive prompts on those as well.
**********************************Avoid public wifi**********************************
Public Wi-Fi is the Wi-Fi that you get in places such as coffee shops, libraries,
and McDonald's branches. For someone who's away from home and wants to use their MacBook,
these networks can be a lifesaver. However, the main problem with public Wi-Fi is that it's often
unsecured, meaning that your personal data, including passwords and financial information,
could be easily intercepted by hackers on the same network.
The solution is to connect using a secured network. If you have an iPhone with a data plan
that allows it, you can use your iPhone to create a hotspot. To do this, go to Settings on your
iPhone, then tap on Personal Hotspot, and you'll see a Wi-Fi password. This allows you to use your
iPhone as a mobile Wi-Fi connection, which you can then connect to on your Mac. However, make
sure to check that your data plan allows this and doesn't charge extra for it (known as tethering).
The other, easier option is to make the unsecured public Wi-Fi connection private
by using a VPN and ensuring that you never access public Wi-Fi without one.
**The Proper Weekly**
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**Multiple logins for multiple users**
In the past, when the only thing you'd access on a home computer was email,
it wasn't a big deal to have multiple people sharing the same computer. Nowadays, however,
your computer is used to access email, browse the web, receive text messages,
and store personal documents and credit card details, among other things. There's a lot
of personal information on your computer these days, so it's a good idea to ensure
that if multiple people are going to be using your computer, everyone has their own login.
To create a new user account, open System Settings and choose Users & Groups. You'll
see that for my Mac, I've only created one login, but if I wanted to create a login for my wife,
for example, I could click on Add Account and follow the steps to create her account.
Another option is to create a guest user account. To do this, click on the "i" (info) button next to
Guest User and enable the function on the next screen. A guest user doesn't need a dedicated
login or a password, and any documents created by a guest user will be deleted once they log
out. Guest users also don't have the ability to access or change any computer settings.
**Enable Passkeys wherever possible**
If your Mac has Touch ID, you can use it to log in to your computer
instead of inputting a password. Apple refers to this technology as a passkey,
where the validation of your fingerprint on your computer is used to confirm your identity
and grant access to your device. This technology is now being embraced by websites and portals,
allowing you to access online accounts using Touch ID on your Mac or even using Touch ID or Face ID
on your connected iPhone via a QR code in some cases, rather than needing to use a password.
To use this feature, make sure that you have iCloud Keychain enabled,
as we discussed in the chapter about using your Mac's password manager. Then, visit one
of the growing number of sites where passkeys are enabled. As of now, sites like Best Buy,
eBay, GoDaddy, and Google offer this login option, so be sure to check it out if you can.
**Enable FileVault**
If the data you have saved on your Mac is particularly sensitive,
consider enabling FileVault. FileVault is full disk encryption, which means that all of the data
on your Mac's internal drive is encrypted using a widely accepted standard for data encryption.
Essentially, this guarantees that even if your Mac is lost or stolen and falls into the wrong hands,
the data on the Mac is essentially worthless to the person who has your
computer without your login information, as they won't be able to access it. This way,
even if you don't get your computer back, at least you know that your data is safe.
To enable FileVault, open System Preferences and then choose Security & Privacy from the options on
the left. Scroll down until you see FileVault. If it's not enabled, choose to turn it on and follow
the steps. As part of the process, you'll create a recovery key, which is used if you forget your
password. I recommend that you keep a written note of the key somewhere very safe, where nobody else
would be able to access it, and definitely not on or near the computer itself. Once the
steps have been followed, you'll be prompted to restart your machine, and the encryption
process will begin on the restart. This can take some time, depending on how much data you have.
By the way, I've been asked in the comments to talk about Lockdown mode,
which you can also see on this page. According to Apple's own description of it,
they don't anticipate most people ever needing to use this feature. It is literally for the
0.1% of people who, due to who they are or what they do, could be subject to the most
advanced digital attacks. If you think that's you, then you may want to use Lockdown mode,
but it essentially stops your computer from doing pretty much everything in order to limit
the potential for attacks. As the vast majority of people will never need it,
that's all I'll say about it. It's there if you want it, but be aware of its implications.
**Be aware of phishing emails**
Phishing emails are a popular way for malicious actors to try and access your
data and information, and can easily fool unsuspecting users. Put simply, a phishing
email is an email that looks legitimate, but is actually from someone trying to get you to
enter your personal information, or click on a malicious link, in order to access your data.
The most common type of phishing emails are those that appear to come from a legitimate company,
such as your bank or a credit card company. These emails will usually be addressed to you directly,
and will appear to be from a legitimate email address. The email will usually ask
you to click on a link within the email, and then enter your username and password,
or your credit card details, or a range of other personal information.
In most cases, these emails are a scam. The links often lead to malicious websites, and the personal
information that you enter is then sent to the malicious actors, who can then access your data.
So, how can you spot a phishing email? Well, the most obvious way is to check
the email address that it’s sent from. If the email address doesn’t actually
match the company that it’s pretending to be from, then it’s probably a phishing email.
Also, check the content of the email. If the email is asking you to enter personal information,
or is offering you something that seems too good to be true, then it’s likely a scam. If there
are any typos or errors in the email, then this is also a good indication that it’s a phishing email.
Finally, make sure to hover over any links within the email, and check the URL that they lead to. If
the URL doesn’t look legitimate, then the link is likely malicious and should not be clicked.
The best advice when it comes to phishing emails is to ignore them,
and delete them immediately. If you think the email may be legitimate,
then do your own research into the company, and contact them directly to confirm.
**End**
So there you go, 10 tips for keeping yourself and your data safe,
whilst using your Mac online. What do you think, any important tips that
should have been included in this video but weren’t? Drop me a comment and let me know.
And as ever, if you found this video useful, do please consider leaving me a like,
and subscribing to my channel for more content like this in the future.
See you on the next video.