by The NSA (the National Security Agency, or, as some people prefer, No Such Agency) has found itself in the spotlight lately, owing in large part to leaks from former contractor Edward Snowden. But although the agency has been in hot water because of who it has been spying on, snooping isn’t the agency’s only job. The NSA also plays an important role in helping the rest of the government secure its computers from outside attackers.
Back in 2010 the NSA published “Hardening Tips for Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’” (PDF), a terse, two-page pamphlet recommending a series of security precautions. The agency hasn’t updated that pamphlet for more recent versions of OS X—so I thought I’d do so in the agency’s stead.
Practically speaking, these precautions would seriously degrade the Mac user experience for anyone who implemented all of them. So as I was updating the NSA’s advice for OS X 10.8, I decided to add a little guidance as to how much pain some of these tips might cause you. I certainly don’t use all of these tricks myself. But they are still good to know.
(I’ll be referring to the pamphlet throughout, so you should download it before you go any further. Plus, one reminder: When changing some System Preferences items, you’ll need to click the lock icon in the lower-left corner and enter an administrator password.)
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