macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

macOS and Security

The Mac has a spectacular reputation for stability and security. You hardly ever hear of a Mac virus. There’s also no Windows-esque plague of spyware (downloaded programs that do something sneaky behind your back).

Here are a few of macOS’s big-ticket defenses.

Two-Factor Authentication

These days, having a complicated password isn’t enough to protect you from the bad guys. Even if your password is é$*@çg45e$+!!!>?!+r6ü, someone can still steal it. (There are all kinds of ways. An inside job. An FBI demand. Poor security on a company’s servers. Social engineering, where someone calls up pretending to be you and saying, “I forgot my password.”)

Impressively enough, security experts have come up with a way to keep baddies out of your account even if they’ve got your password.

Here’s how it works: The first time you try to access your account using a new gadget (a new laptop or phone, for example) or a new web browser, the company instantly sends a special, one-time code to a phone, tablet, or computer that it knows you own. You need that code to get into your account.

If some Russian hacker does get your password, you won’t care! He still can’t get into your account, because the code will be sent to your machine, not his.

This ingenious system has earned the awful name two-factor authentication. (Let’s call it 2FA to save paper.)

Now, 2FA is available for your iCloud account. If you turn it on, the odds of someone else being able to access your account (email, calendar, ...