In the era of privacy becoming almost nonexistent, we need to take every measure we can to reclaim some sense of security. Naturally, it’s not as convenient as it should be to protect yourself — we have traded convenience for privacy after all. But most operating systems have features, although buried beneath submenus, to make your device and data more secure.

If you're a macOS user, there are few settings you should enable to enhance your security — here are some of them.

Connecting to new Wi-Fi? I highly recommend enabling Firewall. It’s not necessarily difficult to find, but it is disabled by default. That’s because a fresh install of macOS doesn’t have any services with open ports to be exploited.

macOS does have a built-in security feature called Gatekeeper, which ensures only trusted software runs on your Mac, but it’s not a network security tool, so incoming ports can still be exploited. This is especially the case if you’re using public Wi-Fi. In which case, enabling Firewall will prevent unwanted access from malicious actors.

To activate Firewall, navigate to the Apple logo > System Settings > Network > Firewall. Firewall should still allow incoming connections from trusted sources like Zoom or Spotify. However, in rare cases, you could run into connectivity issues with certain software.

You should also find Stealth Mode in the same section. This will make your Mac invisible when you're on public networks.

If you feel like your Mac is ever at risk of being lost or stolen, then you should activate FileVault .

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