zephyrite
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Mavericks to El Capitan: Security

I have a Macbook Pro 13" with Retina Display (Late 2013), and am currently running iOS 10.9.5. I've been avoiding Yosemite because everyone told me it wasn't as good as Mavericks, but I was thinking of upgrading to El Capitan since I heard it was a major improvement on Yosemite. I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 professor and 8GB memory, so I think it should run smoothly, but tell me if otherwise.

 

I was wondering if El Capitan was more or less secure (mainly, susceptible to malware and such) than Mavericks? I've heard some people call Mavericks "finished" so it's more stable, while El Capitan is newer and still receiving updates.

 

I also checked, and the software I normally use is available in El Capitan and I heard their performances are marginally the same, so I was just wondering about security. However, I can't upgrade XCode 6.2 any further to 7.2 because it's incompatible, so I was wondering if that would (somehow) pose an issue as well.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Dec 27, 2015 6:36 PM

by macjack,Solvedanswer
macjack macjack
Level 9 (55,709 points)
Mac OS X
A:

El Capitan is a more secure OS and runs well for most folks. However SIP locks down many areas of OS X as a developer you may want to access. El Capitan requires xcode7. More protections have been taken for Malware which is a growing threat but your own common sense should be enough to avoid downloading software from dubious sources. Malwarebytes. was developed by one of our own colleagues here in ASC. It gets rave reviews and is about the most proven anti-malware software for Mac.

Posted on Dec 27, 2015 7:00 PM

Close
zephyrite

Q: Mavericks to El Capitan: Security

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by macjack,Solvedanswer

    macjack macjack Dec 27, 2015 7:00 PM in response to zephyrite
    Level 9 (55,709 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2015 7:00 PM in response to zephyrite

    El Capitan is a more secure OS and runs well for most folks. However SIP locks down many areas of OS X as a developer you may want to access. El Capitan requires xcode7. More protections have been taken for Malware which is a growing threat but your own common sense should be enough to avoid downloading software from dubious sources. Malwarebytes. was developed by one of our own colleagues here in ASC. It gets rave reviews and is about the most proven anti-malware software for Mac.

  • by zephyrite,

    zephyrite zephyrite Dec 28, 2015 5:36 PM in response to macjack
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 28, 2015 5:36 PM in response to macjack

    Which areas of lock-down should I be worried about? I do program a bit, although I don't do a lot of development as I'm still a student. I also typically don't use the terminal. I use some third-party programs for school (like Matlab), although I assume that won't be a problem. And I do use Malwarebytes already.

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Dec 28, 2015 6:14 PM in response to zephyrite
    Level 6 (15,637 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 28, 2015 6:14 PM in response to zephyrite

    zephyrite wrote:

     

    Which areas of lock-down should I be worried about? I do program a bit, although I don't do a lot of development as I'm still a student. I also typically don't use the terminal. I use some third-party programs for school (like Matlab), although I assume that won't be a problem. And I do use Malwarebytes already.

     

    So long as you've been following longstanding documented practice of putting your add-on stuff under /usr/local and under /User, and if you don't make a habit of scattering stuff around in the / root directory, the OS X directories. or at the top of various volumes or such, you'll be fine.

     

    Some of the add-on package-manager tools weren't using /usr/local, and they got bagged, and they've since updated.

     

    Check your backups.  If you're using Time Machine, preferably have more than one backup volume going, too.   If you're using block copies, you'll want rather more than two copies, as you'll want some depth to your recoveries.   Backups are one of the most overlooked and most critical aspects of your system security, and are vastly more important than add-on anti-malware tools.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Dec 28, 2015 6:22 PM in response to zephyrite
    Level 7 (32,249 points)
    iPad
    Dec 28, 2015 6:22 PM in response to zephyrite

    Here is Apple's article on SIP:

     

    About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support