6 ms·
Similarly, whenever I'm working at my kitchen table I always "lose" my mouse as if there's another monitor connected. I realized a couple weeks later MacOS dis
by cj 4y ago
Similarly, whenever I'm working at my kitchen table I always "lose" my mouse as if there's another monitor connected.
I realized a couple weeks later MacOS display continuity (or "sidecar"?) was connecting to my Mac Mini located directly upstairs using it as a 2nd monitor while I'm downstairs.
My apple watch also regularly unlocks my Mac Mini when I'm downstairs (Mac Mini in a bedroom upstairs).
All of these features pose serious security issues if your physical location isn't secure/trusted.
There really should be a "Travel Mode" for MacOS that disables features like these. No one wants airport security to open a laptop and have the apple watch immediately unlock it for them while standing 20 feet away (or in another room).
- jackson1442 4y agoDefinitely should be an os-level feature to disable all that, similar to using panic mode on ios to disable biometrics. I personally boot my laptops to the filevault screen and no further when going through the security checkpoints. Keeps the disk encrypted and requires my password to continue.
- highwaylights 4y ago“Would you like to enter the password before or after I check in the back to see if we have any latex gloves left, sir?”
- mikepurvis 4y agoDoesn't look like Filevault has a duress option— otherwise it'd be pretty nice to have a separate password that boots you to a dummy partition showing a fresh desktop install with apparently nothing on it. For bonus points, you could have the dummy OS kernel-patched so that it doesn't even show the other partitions as existing, and just pretends it's occupying the whole disk with mostly empty space. "That computer? Oh yeah, I just picked it up, officer; was going to start configuring it when when I arrive at my destination."
- Someone 4y ago> "That computer? Oh yeah, I just picked it up, officer; was going to start configuring it when when I arrive at my destination." That can get you into trouble with customs when the device looks new.
- actionfromafar 4y agoRookie mistake. It should have a shitload of random stuff on it, recently updated, including something mildly embarrasing¹ on it. 1: it depends on the person what that is, but it should be believable, "in character" so to speak.
- desro 4y agoWhen both FileVault and Guest account is enabled, logging into the guest account boots you you into a basically Safari-only sandbox. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-guest-user-settings-mh15600/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-guest-user-s...
- JustSomeNobody 4y ago> There really should be a "Travel Mode" for MacOS that disables features like these. Sadly that is not the Apple way. We'll have to wait years for them to come up with a "solution" that doesn't involve a disable button. If they even decide to work on it.
- secondraft 4y ago> There really should be a "Travel Mode" for MacOS that disables features like these. Have you tried macOS Lockdown Mode?
- lostlogin 4y agoThat seems a crazy way to keep mines mouse attached.
- mattpavelle 4y agomacOS Lockdown Mode is not intended to be used by casual travelers to prevent unintended macOS unlocks. Per Apple, “Lockdown Mode is an optional, extreme protection that's designed for the very few individuals who, because of who they are or what they do, might be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats. Most people are never targeted by attacks of this nature.”
- Godel_unicode 4y agoGood luck convincing the HN crowd that the FBI aren’t rubbing elbows with the MSS under everyone’s bed.
- sroussey 4y agoYou should spend a few minutes in setting. Continuity allows a mouse and keyboard to run multiple macs and iPads. You move the cursor all the way over to the end of the screen. It stops but if you push more it will switch to the neighboring Mac. Easy to disable in settings. You can unlock your other Mac this way (I think), and Apple Watch will unlock if you are close by. All changeable in settings.
- cj 4y agoProblem is I like Apple Watch unlocking. But not randomly when I’m downstairs cooking dinner!
- sroussey 4y agoFor sure! Now that I have an apple silicon Mac and a keyboard with touch id, I turned that feature off.
- highwaylights 4y agoI don’t really trust it. The sports bands (which I find most comfortable) are especially vulnerable to being “scooped” off the wrist with two fingers in a single motion without interrupting the presence detection.
- crimsontech 4y agoIt won’t unlock the MacBook if the watch is taken off your wrist though, the watch will lock.
- somehnguy 4y agoThey said without triggering the presence detection, so presumably the watch would not lock in that case.
- garblegarble 4y agoDo you have any more info on that? I've been able to find videos of people taking the sports band off, but it didn't look like any of the techniques were attempting to avoid interrupting the wrist presence detection
- unxdfa 4y agoI've disabled unlock with Apple Watch and bought a touch ID magic keyboard. This is a far better solution! It was neat for a couple of days until I was walking out of the room and my mac unlocked itself.
- kingkawn 4y agoFYI the feds can legally compel you to use biometric scanning to open your device, but cannot compel you to give up passcodes. Last I heard
- unxdfa 4y agoFeds is not an attack vector that concerns me. My coworkers or kids changing my wallpaper or getting access to my kit is.
- hungryforcodes 4y agoI guess you don't travel alot...
- unxdfa 4y agoI do. Only for leisure. And I take a Pixel 6A running LineageOS when I do which has nothing sensitive on it. That's really mostly so that I don't lose my iPhone which I actually care about.
- hungryforcodes 4y agoOK, but most people don't use burner laptops /phones and are often subjected to unreasonable searches at the border by federal agents during entry at international airports, etc.
- mingus88 4y agoIf you're traveling a lot and not using a burner laptop, well...
- sneak 4y agoPowering off the computer will do that. The passphrase is always required on cold boot.
- misterprime 4y agoAmusingly simple, practical solution. What's the wake time difference from power off vs sleep for a modern Mac Book? I don't have one. Oh, I suppose the power off time would be longer than simply shutting the lid, too. Can you configure it to power off when the lid shuts?
- sizzle 4y agoDisable Apple Watch unlock for other Mac devices, a 4 digit pin on your watch really lowers the bar for security.
- macshome 4y agoWhich is why you shouldn’t have a 4 digit PIN. By default Apple devices have wanted a 6 digit PIN for a while now. I have an 8 digit one on my watch, but use a passphrase on my iPhone.
- macshome 4y agoYour watch really shouldn’t be able to do that. The pairing uses p2p latency as a way to determine if you are actually close enough to your Mac to want to unlock it. I’ve used it for years now with a variety of watches and Macs and I’ve always had to be right next to the computer with a fairly clear line of sight between them. Even putting my watch on the other side of my body is normally enough to make it tell me that the WiFi signal isn’t strong enough to unlock it.
- dumpsterdiver 4y agoTo play devil's advocate, it would very easy to create custom rooms in which a detainee is held in a room against a paper wall (with their locked device on the other side of the paper wall). The orientation of their seating arrangement could be such that it always places the detainees watch closest to the device.
- danmur 4y agoI wonder if the algorithms are tuned for different cultures' wall materials
- larsnystrom 4y agoI have, like GP, been able to unlock a computer downstairs when I'm directly above it. So N=2.
- natch 4y agoHow do you know it’s unlocked upstairs when you are downstairs?
- badpun 4y agoTo me, that's just a failure on Bluetooth spec part, period. All reasonable bluetooth devices should come with a selector which allows you to choose which device to connect to [1]. Instead, there's this crapshoot, where, if there are multiple bluetooth devices near you, you'll get paired with a random one, and will have to disable bluetooth on it to roll the dice again. [1] For cheapest devices, a physical button that goes to the next available device would still make a world of difference.