This guide features a collection of scripts that are meant to enhance the security and privacy of a modern Apple Macintosh computer running macOS Ventura or later. It is organised in chapters which are located in their respective sub-folders:
We have noticed that a lot of our colleagues and friends who are working with Macintosh Computers not only leave it in its factory configuration, but also have very little knowledge of how to reduce their digital fingerprint and what steps can be taken to enhance their privacy.
This guide is targeted to users who wish to make informed decisions and who want to improve their privacy and security on a Mac. We want everybody to be able to follow this guide, which is why this guide is meant to be educative and a source of learning.
As an important part of this guide we have written several scripts that are meant to lead you through the installation of several helper tools. For advanced users, who want to speed up the whole process, we recommend you use the speedy install scripts. However, if you follow our tutorials and you are a novice user who has never worked with the command line before (Terminal.app), and you want to learn how to use scripts on MacOS (and maybe write your own at some point), we recommend you use the normal installation scripts which will guide you through the respective installation. In case you want to uninstall any of these helper tools, please use the provided uninstall scripts.
This guide is a work in progress. We will ad more content in future.
HOWEVER, BE CAREFUL: YOU SHOULD ALWAYS LOOK AT THE CONTENT OF ANY SHELL SCRIPT YOU DOWNLOAD FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE BEFORE YOU EXECUTE IT! VERIFY ITS CONTENT FIRST TO MAKE SURE IT IS SAFE TO EXECUTE.
In that spirit we conclude our introduction with a warning by drudh:
"A system is only as secure as its administrator is capable of making it. There is no one single technology, software, nor technique to guarantee perfect computer security; a modern operating system and computer is very complex, and requires numerous incremental changes to meaningfully improve one's security and privacy posture.
This guide is provided on an 'as is' basis without any warranties of any kind. Only you are responsible if you break anything or get in any sort of trouble by following this guide."
(drduh / Author of macOS-Security-and-Privacy-Guide, 2016)
We have tested and developed our code on MacOS Sonoma (14.1.1). All installed helper tools run fine on our system. However, you alone are responsible if you break your system. To suggest improvements, please write a comment, report an issue or request a pull request.