Re: Is Keychain or any other program safe for storing sensitive data on a desktop Mac?

From	Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
Newsgroups	comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject	Re: Is Keychain or any other program safe for storing sensitive data on a desktop Mac?
Date	2018-11-10 14:59 +1300
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<ps5e14$b9u$1@gioia.aioe.org> (permalink)
References	<2018110721595581963-tomevans9890@yahoo.ca> <ps4rjv$1g7l$1@gioia.aioe.org> <2018110917180927234-tomevans9890@yahoo.ca>

Show all headers | View raw

On 2018-11-10 01:18:09 +0000, Tom Evans said:
> On 2018-11-09 20:44:49 +0000, Your Name said:
>> On 2018-11-09 04:55:06 +0000, Tom Evans said:
>>> On 2018-11-08 22:10:58 +0000, nospam said:
>>>> In article <2018110813514766717-tomevans9890@yahoo.ca>, Tom Evans
>>>> <tomevans9890@yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I thought maybe the thief was able to hack into my Mac and find my bank
>>>>> information there.  (I have my user names and passcodes stored on my
>>>>> Mac, but in a text program and not in Keychain.)
>>>> 
>>>> that's *not* a good idea.
>>> 
>>> Two messages down, Your Name wrote that it's "immensely unlikely" that 
>>> a hacker hack into my bank data on  my Mac, and two messages up, Callum 
>>> wrote "If nobody else has physical access to that desktop Mac [which 
>>> nobody does] it's very safe indeed, especially if you don't sync the 
>>> keychain via iCloud to any other Mac" [which I haven't].
>>> 
>>> So who's right, those two guys, or Nospam here, who wrote that it's 
>>> "not a good idea" to store sensitive data in a text file on a Mac?
>>> 
>>> The opinions seems to be contradictory.
>> 
>> The chances of you having malware on a Mac are basically nil. In well 
>> over 30 years of computer use, via my own computers, school computers, 
>> university computers, work client computers, etc. I have never ever 
>> come across any Mac with malware on it. Despite the claims of the 
>> anti-malware sellers, nobdy has ever had any of the malware they 
>> scaremonger the general public with.
>> 
>> Even the almighty issues with CPU chips that affected pretty much every 
>> chip maker, have not been an actual problem for users.
>> 
>> It's simply a case of "the sky is falling" and the same stupidty that 
>> saw IT "professionals" charging through the nose to "repair" things 
>> that the supposed Y2K bug was never ever going to affect anyway.   :-\
> 
> That's interesting, Your Name.
> 
> I have noticed a tendency for some advisors on the newsgroups to be 
> overly cautious.  For example, one advised that having three back-up 
> drives (with one or two of them off-site at all times in a secure 
> location) is insufficient and that I should have four back-ups.
> 
> So what you're implying is that having banking information in a text 
> program (with an obscure file name) would be safe from hackers.

Use whatever filename you want, it doesn't have to be "obscure".

The only real world way someone is going to be able to read that file 
is if they have physical access to your computer and it's logged into 
your user account (or your computer password is very simple to guess, 
or you're stupid enough to have it written on a sticky note attache to 
the display!).

The only possible exception is if you install software from a dodgy 
source. For example, never click on a pop-up link in your web browser 
that claims you need to update / install software (such as Flash or 
Java). Even then the chances are extremely low.

If you really want to check your computer for any mythical malware, you 
can use Malwarebytes (free) <https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/>
or one of the other paid and free products listed at TechRadar
<https://www.techradar.com/au/news/the-best-mac-antivirus-software>

BUT, be aware that these can produce false positives by detecting 
something they think *MIGHT* be malware, but really isn't, so you 
really need to know what you're doing before going around dleting files.

Even better, take it to an authorised Apple tech centre, but you'll be 
paying money and the liklihood of them actually finding any problem is 
basically zero.

> But I've spoken with employees from my bank about this fraud attempt, 
> and they advised me not to store my bank information on my computer, so 
> that's another source of contradictory advice.

Bank employees, like most of the world (especially 'help' desk 
operators), are all Windoze drones and have zero understanding of Apple 
devices. In fact most 'help' desk operators have zero understanding of 
anything and simply read off a script on their screen or do Google 
searches for answers.   :-\

I've been told by such fools that I *have* to install the "xyz" 
anti-malware software on my computer ... despite the fact that it 
doesn't even exist for Macs because it's a Windoze-only app.

Thread

csiph-web