Be confident that thanks to our operating system that we use on our Mac we are safe from any intruder action , it is probably a major mistake to think like that today.
While it is true that MacOS is considered one of the safest operating systems that exist today, but these considerations are unfortunately not enough, there are malware and adware that transfer a Mac with complete peace of mind >.
In this post we will analyze everything related to security within a Mac, we will show you what tools exist to increase the security level of our computer.
Index:
Why is it important to maintain our privacy on the Internet?
When browsing the Internet network, we leave our traces on the different pages through which we pass.
These traces are neither more nor less than our personal data , our IP address, our preferences, where on a page we click and many other things.
The place to store that confidential information is cookies. These garbage files are connected, according to the codes with which they were developed, with third parties, which can be companies or individuals. These third parties collect all this data and use it to make invasive advertisements, to know which products or services we prefer, favorite places we visit, among other things.
A more important problem is that through these cookies could access our computer , generating real chaos in our most direct data, in addition to breaking the computer.
When we take measures to protect our virtual intimacy, we are, in reality, protecting ourselves and our loved ones.
Identifying the problems What are the main privacy vulnerabilities in MacOS ?
MacOS is a very reliable and resilient operating system, but it also presents some vulnerabilities related to its security.
According to this point of view, we can identify the problems according to these weaknesses presented by the operating system. They are :
IP addresses
When we talk about IP, we have to refer to the MacOS operating system has a weak point due to the design of any IP, since the protocol transports data packets, but also sends other very valuable information for different ones protocols
The way these protocols work also offers information for which third parties can access, and the MacOS operating system still cannot solve it.
The browser
Through the browser you can install different kinds of data in the cookies folder , so having data that we have not authorized to enter is already a topic.
While it is true MacOS gives us the possibility of not allowing access to this folder from Internet sites , we should keep in mind that in this way many websites will not work correctly, so User experience is greatly affected.
Cookies
Subject related to the previous point, MacOS does not automatically delete cookies, so these small files are providing our information permanently to third parties. You can access them through different designs and developments that have the same cookies to be able to send them and thus act later accordingly.
MacOS has not yet been able to solve this problem to avoid cookies and thus increase our computer security.
The scripts
Our security is compromised through XSS, from the English Cross-site Scripting «, commonly called Script. These files work based on the trust we have for certain sites.
The work that these scripts have, fortunately, depends on the user’s action, since they are necessary for the approval of the user to be executed .
The way they work is to execute an alert message, on the page to which we have confidence, and force us to enter our data. This information is stolen by third parties and has negative consequences for us and our team.
MacOS beyond all the security it offers, one of its most important weaknesses and requested by all users is that these files can be avoided.
Ads
The commercials are a consequence of all the previous topics that we have been talking about, since they are directed directly towards us with an important insistence.
When companies know what our needs or tastes are, they start sending us advertisements that become truly invasive, becoming vulnerable and sometimes accessing to accept their proposals.
An advertisement is a security problem when we look very much like the Script, we enter the advertiser’s page and dump the personal information they need about us.
Steps to increase our online privacy and protect our personal information in MacOS
There are different recommendations for our security to be protected and also our operating system.
We will begin, next, to show you what are the best steps to increase our privacy :
Encrypt the IP address
In order to understand a little why we must encrypt our IP we should first know that when we browse different websites and enter their URL, the DNS server translates that domain and converts it into an IP.
It is at this time, in where there is a network communication between our IP and the IP that we want to access, is where the greatest vulnerability occurs since our IP can be intercepted in the DNS server.
So that this does not happen we will have to encrypt the IP for this we will need to download a VPN .
Choose a secure browser
Among the balances benefits offered by unknown browsers is the speed with which it works, at first this would be very good, but it brings a more than important consequence, many of them all they do is enter our system operational and install spy files for information theft .
When we access the Internet with a secure or trusted browser, what we are doing is knowing how they manage their cookie policies, we can also know what are the folders in which they download their temporary or browsing files.
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Block cookies
We have previously mentioned a small part of this topic. Our security will increase when we block cookies.
Cookies are nothing other than small data or information that are installed in our browser in the beginning to remember our data and not have to reload them when we enter a website again.
But cookies do not always work to improve our user experience but there are also third-party Cookies that use them as spy files.
Next, we’ll show you the steps so you can delete according to the browser you use.
For Safari:
- Safari Menu
- Preferences
- Security
- Show cookies
- Delete all
- Accept
For Firefox:
- Tools
- Options
- Privacy
- Cookies
- Show cookies
- Cookies
- Delete all cookies
- Accept
- Accept to close « Options «
For Opera:
- Opera
- Tools
- Delete personal information
- Detail of options
- Delete all fingerprints
- We deactivate « Private data » that we don’t need to delete
- Delete
- Block third-party scripts
Block ads
There are different ways to block ads when we use a MacOS operating system.
Among the best alternatives we present the following:
- Install an ad blocker , there are very good blockers on different sites, which are extensions to the browser and do not allow us to see the advertisements when we are browsing.
- Block pop-ups , although here we may have a small problem when we browse because not all pop-ups are commercials.
In order to block the windows we will perform these steps :
- Safari
- Preferences
- Security
- Block pop-up windows
When we have pop-up windows blocked and we need to unlock those of a particular site, the browser will let us know that it blocked a window, we will click on it and we will give permission for that special site to provide us with pop-up windows.
If we use Google Chrome as a browser on our Mac we can block pop-ups as follows :
- Chrome
- Preferences
- Advanced settings
- Privacy and security
- Content settings
- Pop-ups and redirects
- Blocking (recommended)
Activate the reader mode in Safari , this will allow us to have only the format for comfortable reading on our screen.
To configure the reader mode we will perform these steps :
- Display
- Show reader
The problem with this issue is that not all Internet sites are always enabled in read mode.
Enable the impediment of website tracking , in this way we can avoid the installation of cookies on our MacOS.
In order to perform this configuration, we will do these steps :
- Safari
- Privacy
- Ask websites that don’t track me