Your Agency Runs on Macs. Is Anyone Actually Securing Them?
If your agency runs on Macs, you’re in good company. Creative and PR teams have long preferred them for their reliability and performance. But there’s a question most organizations haven’t seriously asked:
When was the last time someone actually reviewed how those Macs are secured?
For many teams, the honest answer is: not recently—or not at all in any structured way. And that’s where risk starts to build.
Macs are reliable, but not automatically secure
There’s a common assumption that Macs are “safe by default.” While they do have strong built-in protections, they’re not immune to misconfiguration or neglect.
Security isn’t about the device you choose; it’s about how you manage it. And in many agencies, Mac environments grow organically without a clear security strategy in place.
Macs also make up a relatively small share of the overall business IT landscape. As a result, many IT providers have built their tools and processes primarily around Windows environments.
For Mac-heavy organizations, this creates a gap:
- Tools may not fully support macOS
- Security practices may be adapted rather than purpose-built
- Issues specific to Macs may go unnoticed
If your team relies heavily on Macs, it’s important that your IT support actually understands them and doesn’t treat them like a variation of something else.
Three things to do right now
If you haven’t already addressed these basics, start here:
1. Secure your Apple ID
Your Apple ID is the gateway to your entire Apple ecosystem: your devices, files, backups, and more.
Make sure it has a strong, unique password, as well as multi-factor authentication enabled. If it’s compromised, the impact can extend far beyond a single device.
2. Stop using admin accounts for daily work
Using an admin account for everyday tasks is a common habit—and a serious vulnerability.
If that account is compromised, it gives full control over the system. A better setup is to have one standard account for daily use and a separate admin account for system-level changes.
3. Turn on FileVault
Unlike iPhones, Macs don’t automatically encrypt their storage.
FileVault is Apple’s built-in disk encryption tool. When enabled, it ensures that data on the device is unreadable without proper authentication, and lost or stolen laptops don’t expose sensitive information.
For any organization using laptops, this should be non-negotiable.
What encryption actually protects
Encryption can feel abstract, but the real-world impact is simple.
Imagine a laptop left behind in a taxi. With encryption, the data is inaccessible without the password.
Without encryption, the data can potentially be accessed directly. That’s the difference between a minor inconvenience and a serious breach.
Don’t rush operating system updates
Each year, new macOS versions are released. Many users update immediately.
For organizations managing multiple devices, that’s risky. Early versions often come with:
- Software compatibility issues
- Broken integrations
- Unexpected bugs
A more stable approach is to skip the initial release, wait for follow-up updates, and roll out upgrades within a controlled timeframe.
Staying current matters, but stability matters just as much.
Personal devices and work access
Allowing employees to access work systems from personal devices introduces a gray area.
For company-owned devices, full management and oversight make sense. For personal devices, the goal shifts to knowing which devices have access, understanding what data they can reach, and having a clear way to revoke access when needed.
One thing to keep in mind is that some default apps make access harder to manage or remove cleanly. Choosing tools that allow better visibility and control can simplify offboarding.
How long should Macs last?
While Macs often have a higher upfront cost, they typically:
- Require less ongoing support
- Stay performant for more years
- Deliver lower total cost over time
The key exception is older hardware that no longer receives operating system updates. Once devices stop receiving security patches, they become a liability and should be replaced.
The risk of mixed environments
Many organizations operate with both Macs and PCs. That’s not inherently a problem.
The issue arises when one platform gets more attention than the other. A common pattern we see is Windows systems being well managed across most of the company, while Macs are often loosely managed because they are used by leadership or specialized teams.
This imbalance creates gaps. The goal should be to apply consistent security standards across every device, regardless of platform.
Consistency is what actually reduces risk
Macs aren’t harder to secure than other devices, they’re just different.
What matters is having a clear, consistent approach. That means securing core accounts, limiting administrative access, and encrypting devices. It also means managing updates carefully and tracking control of device access.
Most of these steps are straightforward. The challenge is not complexity, it’s consistency. And once that’s in place, the majority of risk starts to disappear.
The Creative Stack is produced by Valiant Technology, a managed IT services provider based in New York specializing in serving creative agencies and PR firms. Listen to episodes at podcast.thevaliantway.com and learn more at thevaliantway.com.
