Every day we use the internet to access thousands or even more files or share confidential information. But, data theft and spying have become so common that even if we do not want to, we have to think about our privacy. One such concern is remote access to your Mac. So, how to tell if someone is remotely accessing your Mac?
To check if someone is remotely accessing your data, the first thing you need to check is your loggings for any new user. You will also need to look for any type of malware or spyware in your Mac. Other things that must be checked are that you have blocked stuff like screen sharing, virtual logins, and more.
But, the main question is how to turn remote access off in your Mac and prevent spying. To learn more about remote access on your Mac and stop it, read this guide carefully!!
What Is Remote Access?
The capacity to enter a pc or laptop from some other computer, at whatever time and from any place, is known as remote access. It allows people to connect to the resources they require even if they are located away from them. This feature is particularly critical for workers who operate from remote locations.
Users may use remote access software to connect to networks and Mac from afar. It has the ability to share documents. Thus, users can access files and apps to your Mac or Windows from a different computer. Users can also operate the distant device via remote access.
A mix of software, equipment, and broadband connections is used to provide remote connections. You’ll need to install the essential software on each Mac that will be remotely controlled after you’ve set up your remote management program.
You may now effortlessly remote access any other computer you choose as long as it is linked to the internet.
Can You Tell If Someone Is Remotely Accessing Your Mac?
It is critical to verify if your Mac is being remotely accessed in order to preserve your privacy and prevent hackers from accessing your personal data. Luckily it is possible to tell if someone is remotely accessing your Mac. You can easily find this out using a few simple steps, which we will discuss in detail below.
The first thing you will notice is a dual rectangle box at the very bottom of the screen, as you can see in the screenshot below.
You may have files missing from your Mac
Since spy software either erases current files and software or generates new files with mysterious names, it has the potential to ruin your device completely. So, if you see files being automatically erased and new files being added, your Mac is in trouble.
Excessive use of the internet than usual time
If you have a net connection monitoring system or tool and see a substantial rise in data use over time, you may be the victim of unauthorized remote access. This can happen for a number of reasons, including a virus, someone accessing your internet, or hackers utilizing your system and Mac.
How To Tell If Someone Is Remotely Accessing Your Mac?
You can check remote access on the Mac using a few different approaches. We will discuss all the best and easy methods today in this guide.
1. Manual Checking
The first and foremost work is to check your logs on the Mac. For that, Select the Apple logo at the top right corner of your Mac and click system preferences.
From the system, preferences go to
- Go to Sharing and then to the Screen Sharing page to see if it’s turned off, and check if it is, set to enable access to all people or only those you specify.
- After confirming the status of the screen sharing page, you need to check the remote login and remote management for the same thing.
Make sure that none of these have enabled access to users. You should also check the users and groups panel. Verify if there are any other Internet backbone authorized accounts except the admin tool and whether the Visitor has Remote Authentication services if it is allowed.
Now, if you see that any of these panels have remote access allowed, you should check your logs.
Even though there are many ways to check login attempts on your Mac, we suggest using the “Last” command. It is the easiest way that we got from our research. To use this command, follow the steps below.
- Start Spotlight Search by using the Command and space keyboard shortcut.
- Now look for Terminal in the search box.
- When the terminal window appears, type “last” and press Enter. Every access occurrence will be printed in decreasing order with this function.
As a result, you’ll easily be able to see whether someone has attempted to access your Mac remotely.
2. Auto Checking
Many tools can help you to detect login attempts on your Mac automatically. The functionality and reliability of each piece of tool might vary. Investing in the finest anti-spyware apps is preferable to stay secure from such actions. Anti-spyware will alert you if any data breaches occur.
How To Stop Someone From Accessing Your Mac Remotely?
By now, we know how to check remote access to Mac also. But, what to do if you want to prevent remote access? Remote access can be prevented by altering a few settings in your Mac, and it isn’t very tricky to do it.
1. Disable Screen Sharing
Screen sharing may be quite useful in some situations, such as when you need to present your computer’s data to someone via the internet. However, allowing screen sharing also grants outsiders remote access to your Mac.
As a result, you must disable it to prevent remote access. To turn off screen sharing, follow the steps.
- Click the Apple logo at the top right corner and select System Preferences.
- After that, select sharing and open sharing preferences for me
- Remove the option for Screen Sharing.
- Finally, save your changes, and you’re finished.
2. Disabling Remote Desktop
Another common way to remote access Mac is through remote desktop management. So, you must disable it. To disable remote desktop management, follow these.
- Click the Apple Logo and enter system preferences
- Choose the “Sharing” tab.
- The option of Remote Login can be found on the Sharing tab.
- Remove the checkmarks from the boxes beside “Remote Login” & “Remote Management.”
If you have followed these steps carefully, you should have now successfully disabled remote desktop management on your Mac.
Conclusion
Remote access is a useful feature in many instances, but unauthorized remote access can cause some serious trouble. It can cause you to lose files, theft of confidential data, and many more.
So, to save you from all this trouble today, we discussed how to tell someone is remotely accessing your mac and prevention methods for it. Thus, if you ever notice unwanted files or excessive use of the internet on your Mac, there is a possibility someone is remotely accessing your computer.
Hence, scan your Mac asap to look for any unwanted logs and remove them. Follow our guide to secure your computer from this in the best possible ways.