Expert · Lessons: 5
macOS hardening, setting by setting
Reduce the attack surface of a Mac: secure installation, encryption, services, ports, accounts, updates and built-in defences, with the commands to check each one.
Knowledge Units: OSH, OSC Read the Knowledge Units
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- 1 Attack surface and a hardening baseline
What “attack surface” means on a Mac, and the order of operations that turns a default install into a hardened one.
8 min - 2 Secure installation, startup security and encryption
How a Mac protects the boot process and the data on disk, and how to check FileVault, the Secure Enclave and startup security yourself.
9 min - 3 Accounts, users, groups and privileges
Why a standard account for daily work beats an administrator account, and what a sound password policy actually requires.
8 min - 4 Services, sharing and open ports
Turn off sharing services you do not use, see what is actually listening for connections, and turn on the Application Firewall.
9 min - 5 Built-in defences and verification
What System Integrity Protection, Gatekeeper, XProtect and Lockdown Mode actually do, and how to check each one is still on.
9 min
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