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Theft Protection?
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ncmason
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I was just thinking how easy it is for someone to steal all of the information on my hard-drive even if they don't know my password. If someone stole my computer, they could use the utility called Reset Password, which resets the current password. Is there a way to prevent any chance of theft on Macs?
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2007
Status:
Offline
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
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You could turn on FileVault. Even if they reset your login password with that, or any other tool, they cannot change the password on the encrypted image.
Scott
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2006
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You are right, if someone gets physical possession of your laptop, resetting the admin password is easy, resetting Open Firmware is easy. File Vault is more secure, but significantly more problematic in terms of day-to-day use. There are services that broadcast IP information to help locate it, but they are of no use if the laptop isn't connected to the intertubes. There was even a utility that scrammed your hard drive so that no one could use. It would trigger after a certain time period if you didn't interact with it. You can imagine why that isn't so popular!
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 
File Vault is more secure, but significantly more problematic in terms of day-to-day use.
I would not say it is significantly more problematic. I use it day-to-day and have not seen any problems. I have also had my machine lock up and require a forced reboot and didn't suffer corruption.
That said, however, I am also very diligent about backing up my data just in case.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2005
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File Vault is for people who work with top secret information all day. If you have a relatively small amount of highly sensitive information, create an encrypted, read-write disk image file using Disk Utility (in Applications->Utilities) and put all of your secret information there. Use a long and complicated password, but don't forget it! Make a backup copy of that .dmg file frequently.
Depending on what you do with that disk image, you might want to be sure that your software is not creating temporary files in a different directory that is unsecure.
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