Mac Encryption
Is Mac FileVault Disk Encryption Good or Bad?
The other day I was working on a MacBook which was not turning on. It's motherboard had failed, and the client wanted the data retrieved from their Apple laptop. The problem was that they had FileVault disk encryption on...and they had lost the password.
The experts at Apple say that FileVault Is good. Data security is the top, and pretty much, the only reason for using it, and that’s what the feature was designed for, according to Apple, FileVault full-disk encryption uses some fancy pants encryption to help prevent unauthorized access to the information on your start-up disk. (Not an actual quote from Apple). So, if your Mac has heaps of highly private and sensitive information — it’s probably a good idea to have FileVault turned on. You never know what would happen to your Mac e.g. you may need to resell or donate it, or in the worst situation the machine got stolen. If that happens, the new owner or "owner" will have the possibility to recover your data even if you delete it.
But do you really care? Is it worth the risk? Unless you have millions of dollars of business ideas on your computer, then it's best to leave it off. Why?
Why I Think Mac FileVault Is Bad
The main problems include: performance, password, and most of all - data safety.
As an aside, if you’re using an older Macintosh that loads with a mechanical hard drive rather than an SSD then having it turned on would probably cause more slowdowns or lock-ups. Every time the drive reads something, it has to encrypt and decrypt things. This all takes time. Slowing your Apple Mac down.
These days there are already have enough passwords, adding an extra one (which, for security, has to be different from other passwords) means more risk — you may forget it. And if that happens, it’s a total disaster for all the data and content saved in the drive. It's all gone.
If you have a Apple Mac, MacBook, MacBook Air or iMac I recommend turning off this built-in feature. See the picture above for details. Apple > System Preferences > Security & Privacy. Or... call us.