Editor’s note: Wired for Safety is a column on cybersecurity and other tech issues. Duane Dunston is an assistant professor of cybersecurity and networking at Champlain College. He received his bachelor’s and master’s of science from Pfeiffer University. From 2001 to 2011 he worked in cybersecurity for NOAA. He is a doctoral student at Northeastern University with a concentration in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership. His other activities include “You Have A Voice,” a project to develop an electronic screening assessment to identify human trafficking victims.
[A] question back in October asked which operating system (OS) is best to protect data. I believe it depends on who is using the OS. Major operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac all have great security features that can help protect data. I’ll discuss those later.
Generally, the question on which OS is best to protect data implies the questions which is more secure. All operating systems have and have had vulnerabilities. Just search on the National Vulnerability Database site for your selected OS. Please note that many of the weaknesses are within the third-party applications that you run on your OS.
I am often asked if MacOS is more secure. MacOS has the same security problems as other operating systems. Third-party software introduces malware, bugs in the MacOS software, and user error. I recently helped a student remove spyware from their MacBook that came bundled with other software the user downloaded. Some applications you download have bundled malware, and if you do not read the license agreement carefully or the website, you may be giving permission to install it. Though that is not a MacOS issue.
I do not argue for Windows, Linux, MacOS, iPhone, Android, etc. I use Android, Windows, Linux, and mostly a Chromebook (which I’m typing this article on and for my own studies). It is not a security issue — I try my best to follow best practices to mitigate security threats regardless of the OS I use. I do not have anything against MacOS, I just believe the products cost way more money than the functionality I need in a computer.
What features do many of these operating systems have? Each has a firewall, which you should enable. A firewall helps protect your device from someone trying to initiate communication to your device. If you are in a coffee shop using your laptop, for example, it can help minimize someone scanning your computer and potentially gaining access to it.
“Each OS has administrative controls. No one should be authenticated to their computer as an administrator for day-to-day tasks. Each OS has an elevated administrative account that can allow installing, managing, and removing software and the account used only when needed.”
Each OS has native hard disk encryption. If you use your laptop for work, regardless of what you do, you should enable hard disk encryption, with a passphrase. It is important to know that hard disk encryption is only useful when your computer is turned off. When your computer is on, and you are working on it, or you lock it when to step away, the data is still accessible on your disk. Meaning if someone had remote access, they could still see the data. However, when it is turned off, the data is not easily accessible. Accordingly, if you lose your laptop or someone steals it, the data is generally safe from access if it is turned off. If you have malicious software while the computer is on, the data is accessible. If you step away without locking your computer, someone can access your data. Important: do not lose your passphrase for hard disk encryption. At the enterprise level, hard disk encryption can be centralized, and recovery keys create in case someone does forget, or employment is terminated.
Windows has an added benefit of native application whitelisting where you can specify what can and cannot be executed. The application whitelisting can go a long way to mitigate many known and unknown threats.
It is worth taking the time to review the security features that are native to your chosen operating system so you can better utilize it to protect your data. Here are links to security guides for your OS:
