Hacking into MacBooks - a threat? (a business question)

[playspeed]

I'm thinking about setting a few MacBooks for rent in my coffee shop, is there a way that they can be hacked and accessed (and probably resold as unlocked)?

Thx, fellas.

 

[yjchua95]

I'm thinking about setting a few MacBooks for rent in my coffee shop, is there a way that they can be hacked and accessed (and probably resold as unlocked)?

Thx, fellas.

If you don't enable a firmware/EFI password, anybody can just plug in an external drive with OS X from it, start it up and get admin access to everything, including the contents of the internal drive.

The best way to prevent this is to create an EFI password.

If you forget the EFI password, however, only Apple can recover it for you.

 

[CASLondon]

Put a firmware password on them. Write it down and don't lose it, because if you do you will not be able to boot from another drive yourself.

Put a user password on admin user accounts. Do not let customers access those. Give them guest accounts to use. Make the computer need the password to wake from sleep.

Enable filevault

These three steps make it pretty damn hard for a casual thief to do a clean install of the OS.

You could always kensington lock them as well.

 

[2984839]

Losing physical security generally means all bets are off. I'd set a firmware password, use Filevault, and install a Kensington lock. Enable the guest account only, or make an even less privileged account. Make the root password 20+ characters.

 

[playspeed]

Great. Thanks for advices!

 

[leman]

Every computer can be potentially hacked. If you have sensitive data on your laptop, I would never leave it unattended (make sure to encrypt your drive) and never use it in a network you don't trust. On practice, the chances are extremely slim. If you are being targeted by professionals though, then they will probably be able to hack unless you take special precaution. But then again, if you are important enough to be targeted by professionals, you probably wouldn't ask advice on MacRumors 😉