Screen sharing (VNC) is encrypted by default?
Hi all!
Please tell me Screen sharing (vnc) connection to mac is encrypted by default? Or do I need to take some steps to encrypt the connection?
Thank you
Mac mini 2018 or later
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No VNC is not secure or encrypted by default. You need to make sure "Remote Login" is checked in the "Sharing" System Preferences so that you can first create an SSH tunnel to the computer before using VNC to access the system. This Mac will now be referred to as the "shared" machine or "remote server".
Then to access the "shared" machine (aka "remote server") you need to first establish an SSH encrypted tunnel from the client computer like this on macOS/Linux command line (I'm not sure what the Windows equivalent is):
ssh -C -N -L 5901:localhost:5900 <user>@<remote-server-address>
where <user> is an account on the remote system with SSH privileges and "<remote-server-address>" is the IP address or DNS name of the system you want to access.
If you are using another Mac to connect to the "shared" Mac (aka "remote server"), then you just click on the "Go" menu in the Finder and select "Connect to Server" and enter the following address:
vnc://localhost:5900
Of course this assumes you can access the computer directly by its IP address or DNS name. Once you are finished close the VNC window and use Control + C in the Terminal to quit the SSH session.
To the best of my knowledge these commands and information are correct since I'm writing this from memory as I cannot access my actual notes right now.
