The Practical Guide To Mac Security

Easy to read basic with explanations for anyone new to Macs. Sent it to my sister because she finally switched from PC to Mac but she clicks on everything.

The author for writing this book. Bottom line: hardening your Mac is just a precaution, if anyone needs to penetrate your Mac you should be extra cautious. The Mac isnt the goal for the hacker (white or black); its your icloud account, your digital keys, your personal info (like location), copies of your iphone backups (which can easily be dissected for interesting goodies) and pretty much act as your device admin (ie MDM). The most easy way is getting supervisor or root as that allows the infiltrator to forever own your Mac. This usually consists of modifying the ESD (disk01) and the bundled packages to one that makes the computer reinstall only into the modified image he created. This is usually the first step. Other tricks to own the device are security holes that have been patched somewhat but are essentially part of the kernel and can not be entirely fixed. Firewalls are a joke. Antiviruses (which I have used) do not solve any critical security issues that script/malware leverage. The best and only safest way to use a Mac (for the paranoia) is to delete the Apple preinstalled apps like dictionary (bruteforce attacks), X11, java (obviously) to name a few and to never install software from 3rd party developers. However, if you are a target, anything you download will be MITM even from the app store and presto... both your computer activity and mobile phone activities are in the hands of someone else. Even connecting to the Apple servers can be compromised so things like updates and getting authenticated (during fresh installs) by the Apple servers are easily bypassed.

Wow, I could go on forever. Syncing is your enemy once the mac has been compromised. Handoff is perhaps the most dangerous feature and can be abused.

I had my macbook replaced by apple after the software (and I suspected the hardware) had been modified from when I first purchased it. The replacement Mac was given to me without telling me they gave me a “custom” OS that had additional questionable features that can not be revealed here (email me to learn more). The information collected from this device was given to third parties without my consent. When I called to explain the Mac was doing strange things, the customer relations officer explained that there was nothing wrong, and that the proof I was showing had no significance.

I had to learn BSD and linux to find out how different this replacement Mac was and from sources; found my personal information was willingly provided to both third parties and authorities. There goes Tim’s slogan... we put the privacy of our customers first. I dont hate Apple; they got what they wanted at the expense of a diehard customer. But the public needs to know how easily corporations hand over information when they tell the public they dont.

Every time I was watching the book´s videos, they crashed.