No, I was saying the average user does. I can't tell you how many people I've found putting that on there.
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New MacBook Owner - FileVault Yes/no?
- Thread starter ZebraDude
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I am very strong with iOS but a newbie with OS / X.
how bad is the performance hit on the new Base 1.1 / 256 and is the security worth it to enable it?
I currently have a mid 2010 iMac 21.5 that I'm not using it..
thoughts?
Thanks Guys for all the suggestions. I turned on FileVault and I am fully encrypted and Migration assistant is 25 minutes away from being completed!
I keep patient data on my laptop. If someone stole it and accessed it, I could face huge fines from Medicare for HIPAA violations if it wasn't encrypted.
well, you definitely can be classified as those who has sensitive data on it lol, don't forget to set a strong password.
but i still insist, it depends on who took your computer.
i mean, if YOU are the one being targeted, the thief will take all measures to crack your hard drive and leak your information,
but, for i'd say 99% of stolen computers, they are targeting the COMPUTER, not you. the thief doesn't know that you are storing so much data on it. if i was this thief, and i find out i can't crack the hard drive, i'd just erase it and sell the computer. i definitely won't risk breaking the computer to access who-knows-what file on this hard drive.
btw, hope you have a good backup plan
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guess we have a different assessment on 'average' users.
Don't forget that it's not just the data on your machine - you also need to worry about the data that your machine is permitted/configured to access.
Your Mac is likely configured to log into your email accounts - with access to that, it's fairly easy to reset your passwords to other online services (unless you're using 2 factor identification, but most normal people don't bother with that). If you're a technology worker, you might have your computer set up to remote access your company's office via VPN too, so now you have to worry about you're work's data in addition to your own.
Not to mention using access to your data for social engineering purposes. A quick email like: "Hi mom & dad! School's great this term, but I'm getting low on funds. I just set up a new account - can you xfer me some cash?" works surprisingly well - more often than it should. Email cash transfers are even better - since the thief has access to your email, they can receive the xfer and deposit it into an account of their choosing.
While it's true that the majority of laptop theft is for the hardware itself, most thieves don't bother to wipe the machine - they just pawn it off as quickly as they can. The person that buys it can then do whatever they want with the data on the drive.
Also: it's very easy to get around an EFI boot password, and without an encrypted filesystem, there's nothing stopping somebody from booting off an external drive and accessing your files directly.
So yeah, use FileVault. You will never notice the tiny performance hit, and the benefits far outweigh the costs if you ever do lose the machine.
Your Mac is likely configured to log into your email accounts - with access to that, it's fairly easy to reset your passwords to other online services (unless you're using 2 factor identification, but most normal people don't bother with that). If you're a technology worker, you might have your computer set up to remote access your company's office via VPN too, so now you have to worry about you're work's data in addition to your own.
Not to mention using access to your data for social engineering purposes. A quick email like: "Hi mom & dad! School's great this term, but I'm getting low on funds. I just set up a new account - can you xfer me some cash?" works surprisingly well - more often than it should. Email cash transfers are even better - since the thief has access to your email, they can receive the xfer and deposit it into an account of their choosing.
While it's true that the majority of laptop theft is for the hardware itself, most thieves don't bother to wipe the machine - they just pawn it off as quickly as they can. The person that buys it can then do whatever they want with the data on the drive.
Also: it's very easy to get around an EFI boot password, and without an encrypted filesystem, there's nothing stopping somebody from booting off an external drive and accessing your files directly.
So yeah, use FileVault. You will never notice the tiny performance hit, and the benefits far outweigh the costs if you ever do lose the machine.
The argument of "what have you got to hide?" argument is lost on me. But to each their own.
The fact that there is no real secure erase with the SSD's as was available on hard disks in Disk Utility is something to keep in mind when/if you go about selling the laptop at the end of your time with it. Or lose it, gets stolen, etc.
The fact that there is no real secure erase with the SSD's as was available on hard disks in Disk Utility is something to keep in mind when/if you go about selling the laptop at the end of your time with it. Or lose it, gets stolen, etc.
Found where ? Do tell whose computers you are scanning for credit card number!
In reality , people are lazy and tend to put cc #'s into encrypted password safe applications so that they can just auto fill online shopping cart payment forms with a single click.
I started the process in turning off the FileVault and it has been running now for 14 hours! hopefully soon the SSD will be decrypted!
This seems like a simple answer. If you on the go with your rMB then encrypt. If its at home then dont. If you live in a high crime area...encrypt at home.
Everyone has PII and HIPAA data on their machines. Everyone connects to other services that have your information.
I would encrypt always.
Everyone has PII and HIPAA data on their machines. Everyone connects to other services that have your information.
I would encrypt always.
I wouldn't take mine out of the house without it switched on.
Performance not really noticeable and the only downside is that if I launch into Bootcamp I can't access any files on my HFS partition. Don't do it very often, so not really a problem for me.
Performance not really noticeable and the only downside is that if I launch into Bootcamp I can't access any files on my HFS partition. Don't do it very often, so not really a problem for me.
FileVault is a pain when used with remote access, if a machine crashes or is restarted without using a terminal command, it will be unavailable until the password is provided at the machine.
well...I have the low end MacBook and I had FileVault on since I picked it up in March. I do notice a speed bump on my MacBook on turning it off!.
I can see an explanation for the power down difference.... not for the photo editing
I'm with Max. I can see the slower shutdown but not that kind of difference in editing a photo. What app are you using and exactly what are you doing that is 50% slower? Take a look at this test.
good link.
And today the situation may be better, with the new fast SSDs used by Apple.
There were a number of benchmarks showing that the FV2 while adding overhead wasn't that much. I run with File Vault on and I'm not noticing any slowdowns. Plus it provides a level of peace of mind that if my MBP ever grows legs and walks off, no one will have easy access to my data.
I actually got confused with drive speeds yesterday because I used FileVault on my new 13" Air and got speeds of 600 write/800 read which was much slower than I expected. Then I found out FileVault was the culprit, removed it and got 750/1300 MB/s. But do I actually FEEL a difference outside of Blackmagic? Hell no. So it's back on.
So it's back on.