FileVault 2, Firewall, Anti-Virus am I secure?

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Level 1

15 points

FileVault 2, Firewall, Anti-Virus am I secure?

Hi I am a previous Windows user, I have a few security questions and if anyone has any information that can help me, it would be greatly appreciated. They are rather noobish and I open myself up to ridicule however I would rather ask anyway.

I Turned on FileVault after several weeks of usage on a factory installed version of OS X 10.8.2, is this the correct procedure for FileVault 2 or is it recommended I enable it at the start of a clean install?

Is this sufficient protection if I have my macbook stolen? I have also read people mention TrueCrypt.

I use two passwords for my macbook, one which is required for admin and for signing into my user account and one that is required when starting the computer after shutdown, both are pretty poor, do I need to strengthen both? I need to input the admin one frequently so that's why I choose a simple one.

Is the bundled firewall enough to prevent my computer from security threats or should I download a third party app as well and possibly something called Little Snitch?

I have read anti-virus software on a mac is not necessary, is this correct or is there a function that it serves?

Is the native Safari the best browser to use for security or is Firefox better for example?

Is my mac more secure if I spook my mac address when surfing the www?

Is there anything I have missed? Security set-ups people like to use..

Interested in your thoughts...

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 25, 2013 3:43 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 25, 2013 4:57 PM in response to aesoprocks

If you are using a Router that you control, the Network Address Translation provided by DHCP gives you a "strictly private" IP address in the range of 192.xxx.yyy.zzz, 172.xxx.yyy.zzz, or 10.xxx.yyy.zzz. You are unreachable from the Internet. The Firewall on your Macintosh can then be turned off. If additional tools were needed, they would already be included with your Mac. Do not download third-party junk unless you like debugging kernel panics on an encrypted system.

Don't install third-party garbage in place of perfectly good FileVault-2 included with Mac OS X. If you are using Whole Disk Encryption, you need a standby alternate Boot Drive with any tools you might need already installed.

Choose passwords that are not in any dictionary. Mis-spellings of multiple common words are good. Numbers or special symbols in the middle. Adding leading or trailing numerals are only 10 more trials before they break it. Don't use simple passwords -- make them ones you can type in your sleep.

Read Thomas A. Reed's very accessible Mac Malware Guide:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg/

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

155,810 points

Feb 25, 2013 5:11 PM in response to aesoprocks

The biggest challenge faced by those migrating from Windows is getting over the fact that the Mac does not need the constant maintenance required of Windows PCs. Get over it. The Mac is perfectly capable of looking after itself. All you have to do is let it.

Keep it up to date with software updates from Apple, avoid third party system hacks, maintain adequate backups, be vigilant regarding phishing attempts, don't click on unknown links in suspicious emails, use secure passwords and change them once in a while. This is basically all you need to do. Macs are designed to be used, not pampered.

If your Mac is behaving in a manner that you do not expect, do not download some magical cure-all claiming to fix it. Doing so is nearly guaranteed to exacerbate whatever problems you may have. Instead, post a question here and you will receive competent help.

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Answer 3

Feb 25, 2013 8:38 PM in response to aesoprocks

Despite what others will tell you, some AntiVirus software solution on a Mac is a good thing. Just today I had a call from a client who was getting a bunch of website connectivity warnings from Avast all of a sudden in the afternoon. One after the other for no reason (according to them). Further diagnosis found that the iMac in question was actually trying to nail up several SMTP connections to web addresses to send out mass emails. Something had gotten on their machine that was causing this. Their first reboot (in which they left the restart apps checkmark enabled) didn't fix this problem, but a subsequent restart without that checkmark cleared up the issue for now. (More cleanup if necessary will take place when I can look at it in person.)

Bottom line is this, had they not had Avast on their system and seen those warning for the outgoing connections, they wouldn't have known anything was going on. What they got and how they got it, they didn't elude to... obviously they triggered it somehow... things don't just happen for no reason. Chances are good that a website and some malicious scripting was to blame for this because FireFox was refusing to close out without a ForceQuit on it. But, at least the AV suite gave them some feedback on the issue.

Me personally, today I hit a website off a Google search that caused some code blocks to happen on that site, but the site was still fully accessible. This is something that's going to have to change in Avast for Mac as more development is done on it's realtime website scanner because on a Windows based OS, the website access would be blocked completely, not just parts of it. (I've already reported this to them to work on.)

So, sorry for the long post, but you can formulate your own opinion on this. Would you rather have something on there that has realtime scanning that block and warns of issues or would you rather go around not knowing you're infected (even if the infection isn't one causing major issues to your system, but others... like in the case of mass emailers). We all know how long Mac people go without rebooting their OS and when they do reboot, who's to say they don't leave that checkmark checked about restarting the same processes over and over again. The decision is yours... but I'd rather know.

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