Similar to the process that ensures the website you’re logging into is actually the site you expected, apps are “signed” by their developers with certificates that are confirmed by the OS before an app can launch. Signed, Sealed, NotarizedĪnother source of consternation among Mac newbies is what can sometimes seem like an endless barrage of notifications and requests to approve application permissions. Nothing on the drive is readable without unlocking the encryption, including the data necessary to boot the Mac, which causes the “double log-in” situation that can catch new Mac users unawares. Even if the user leaves FileVault turned off, the drive data is still encrypted but only with the hardware ID, so the data can only be read by the machine it was originally installed on. The actual encryption process combines the user’s authentication information and a unique hardware ID built into the M1, so FileVault volumes can’t easily be removed or cloned to a different machine to decrypt. Other encryption schemes require the system’s CPU to perform the encoding and decoding and have to balance securing data on the drive with not slowing down operations. (Removable disks are encrypted in a different manner that doesn’t involve the Secure Enclave). With processing power dedicated to encryption, the Secure Enclave’s AES Engine enables FileVault-built-in disk encryption-to encrypt everything on the internal drive on the fly. The subsystem also provides encrypted output to the OS and apps without exposing the keys used to encrypt the data. TouchID gets back either a “yes” or “no” so the stored fingerprint never leaves the enclave. When you need to authenticate with TouchID for instance, the scan data is sent into the Secure Enclave, where it’s compared against what is stored there. This includes biometrics data, the user’s fingerprint, and face scans in the case of iPhones. This is where any sensitive data resides while the Mac is running, instead of being loaded into RAM or stored unencrypted on disk. The latest generation of Macs run on an Apple-designed chip, based on the same ARM architecture used in phones, tablets, and, well, pretty much everything that’s not a computer in the traditional sense.īuilt into that processor, the M1, is what’s called the Secure Enclave-what in previous generation Intel Macs was the T2, a separate system-on-a-chip (SoC). Securing an operating system against threats goes deeper than software it starts by securing the hardware. Before delving into any of those though, I should start by examining what Apple has built into the current macOS to protect its users and their data from harm. Other aspects of Apple’s hardware and software design legacy will be topics for future posts in this series. Historically, a contributing factor to Apple’s relative lack of malware was the comparatively small share Macs occupied in the overall personal computer market. As a trade-off though, the momentary diversion of granting access to an application to use your camera or microphone is preferable to an afternoon spent rooting out and removing spyware. In order to maintain that security posture, Mac users are subjected to occasional interruptions and other minor inconveniences. That being said, Apple enjoys a significant advantage against Microsoft in the struggle to secure their respective platforms. There are worms, trojans, adware, PUPs, RATs, rootkits, macros-while my personal Mac has never been infected by any of these (knock on wood), I made a significant portion of my income as an IT consultant detecting, removing, and preventing such nasty things from taking root on my customers’ Macs. To be pedantic, most malware today, regardless of platform, doesn’t fit the definition of a virus. Any long-time Mac user, and especially anyone who is used to managing Macs professionally will tell you that yes, Macs get malware.
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