Owing to its superior performance and a range of tools that makes it more secure than other systems, Mac’s user base has increased substantially over the years. Mac, however, like all other machines is vulnerable to malwares and other threats. In fact the growing Mac user base has made it even more lucrative for hackers to come up with malwares and ransomwares designed specifically to target Mac systems. Encrypting files is one of the best ways to avoid losses that may result from such attacks and improve mac security.
Continuing the discussion further, let’s have a look at some encryption practices to ensure comprehensive security for important files and documents you store on your Mac.
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Here How to Enhance Your Mac Security
1. Use File Vault to Encrypt Data
File Vault was first introduced by Apple in 2003, and is an on-the-fly encryption program that aims to protect user data. File Vault enables you to encrypt files in the user account. To decrypt the files, you’ll need to enter your account password or use the recovery key. Before switching on Filevault, remember to backup your data. To enable FileVault on your system, go to ‘System Preferences’. Click on the ‘Security and Privacy’ tab, under which you can locate ‘FileVault’. Enter your password to turn on FileVault.
2. Encrypt External Drives and Partitions
Firewall protects your startup drive, and you need to take additional measures if you’re using multiple internal drives, and partitions. To encrypt a drive, click on the drive icon and select encrypt from the drop down menu. Set a strong password for enhanced security. To encrypt a partition using Disk Utility Check, go to the Utilities folder and select the drive to be encrypted. Name the drive and select the Format (Mac OS Extended). Enter your password to encrypt the drive.
3. Use Preview to Encrypt Documents and Files
Encrypting documents and files is necessary to protect personal data that you store on your Mac. You can use Preview, OS X’s image and PDF viewer to password protect your files. To achieve this objective, open the image using Preview. Click on the file tab and select “export as PDF” from the drop down menu. Rename the extension to .pdf. Next, click on the show details button and set password to encrypt the file.
4. Encrypt Distributed Files
While sending files to a Mac user, make sure they use iMessage that encrypts file to ensure only you and the recipient are able to view file content. iMessage can handle large data volumes and can help you transfer heavy files such as .zip archives and disk images. Use AirDrop to share files with a Mac user who’s located close to you (within 30 feet). The system let’s the recipient and the sender systems create a secure, encrypted network protected by a firewall.
Conclusion
Encrypting your files is one of the best ways to limit access and avoid data theft and malware attacks and you can follow these encryption practices to strengthen your system’s security. You must also use Time Machine to encrypt your system’s data and create backups. Last but not the least, watch out for regular software and hardware updates to maintain your Mac system’s health and fend off against virus attacks, and other issues.
