Stay Safe Online

Bad things can happen on the internet, but then so does everything else. You can’t avoid going online, so here’s our simple guide to surviving it.

- Adam Banks

Using a Mac makes you safer than average when going online. That’s partly because of Apple’s efforts to secure the operating system; partly because the Mac App Store gives you somewhere to get most of your third-party software safely. It’s also partly because bad actors – in the security industry sense, not the Hollyoaks sense – tend to be less interested in targeting macOS.

But that doesn’t mean either you or your Mac can’t get fooled. Know your way around the common risks and basic protections to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

Master basic macOS security

The first steps that’ll safeguard your Mac and your data for online activity

1 Lock your Mac

Many security features become irrelevant once someone has physical access to your Mac, including a thief. Keep them out. In  > System Prefs > Security & Privacy > General, make sure you have a login password set up for your user account and ‘Require password’ is ticked and set to Immediately.

2 Heed the Gatekeeper

In the same place, no matter what is selected for ‘Allow apps downloaded from’, you can still open apps from unidentified developers: ≈-click one in Finder and pick Open, then click Open on the warning dialog. But think twice, and never enter your admin username and password if unsure what’s happening.

3 Look for the lock

Many web addresses start with ‘https://’ rather than ‘http://’, meaning they use SSL to encrypt data exchanged with them. A padlock in Safari’s search bar confirms it. Don’t enter sensitive data if this is missing. If it’s there, remember it just means the connection is secure, not that the site owner is legit.

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