password protected external hard drive mac

This is the kind of best practice that many companies require employees to follow in their security policies and procedures. Encrypting your devices is a low-effort way to boost your security. Stuff happens, so don’t be that person who gets an unencrypted laptop stolen from their car which leads to 43,000 patients getting notified their information was stolen. Your Security Policies May Require You to Turn on FileVault If you forget and cannot use your iCloud password and do not have the recovery key your files and data are gone for good. You will be required to choose between using your iCloud account and password or using a recovery key generated by the Mac.ģ. Click the FileVault tab and click Turn On FileVault. Click the Apple icon > System Preferences, then click Security & Privacy.Ģ. FileVault adds that the final layer of security for your information stored on your Mac via XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key.īelow is the step-by-step guide to encrypting your macOS hard drive with FileVault. If, for example, your laptop had sensitive information stored on it and was stolen or hacked, malicious actors would need to have your encryption key to “unscramble” the data and make sense of it.

The reason encryption is such a fundamental part of security is that it scrambles the data so it is entirely unrecognizable without the encryption key. This process of encrypting and decrypting information on your Mac’s hard drive happens on the fly as you use your Mac. Its job is to encrypt the data that is already stored on the startup disk of your Mac and any new data coming in as you use your Mac. Your Mac comes with a built-in encryption feature called FileVault. Your Mac comes with a built-in tool for encryption help your security team out and put FileVault to work.

Password protected external hard drive mac