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Privacy during macbook repair... help!

Hello TSR,

Might any knowledge person in this area, be able to help me with this...

I use my Macbook for work related business, and it had some sensitive work-related documentation on it.

Last week the screen suddenly became unresponsive, and I took to an independent local computer repair store to fix it asap. They diagnosed the problem as a motherboard issue, which they have since repaired, and I have collected the machine back. Because this fault had come on so suddenly and unexpectedly, I was unable to clear any confidential documents from my machine, prior to the repair.

The mac has password protected entry and filevault enabled. My question is, during the repair, would they have been able to access files stored on the SSD very easily, or would they be met with some form of encryption? Just trying to find out how easy it would be for someone to view documents stored on the SSD. I am running a new Macbook Pro with Retina (new model with no CD)

Anyone able to help advise? Just want to see if I'm at risk of any possible privacy leak!

Cheers
Original post by robbo3045
Hello TSR,

Might any knowledge person in this area, be able to help me with this...

I use my Macbook for work related business, and it had some sensitive work-related documentation on it.

Last week the screen suddenly became unresponsive, and I took to an independent local computer repair store to fix it asap. They diagnosed the problem as a motherboard issue, which they have since repaired, and I have collected the machine back. Because this fault had come on so suddenly and unexpectedly, I was unable to clear any confidential documents from my machine, prior to the repair.

The mac has password protected entry and filevault enabled. My question is, during the repair, would they have been able to access files stored on the SSD very easily, or would they be met with some form of encryption? Just trying to find out how easy it would be for someone to view documents stored on the SSD. I am running a new Macbook Pro with Retina (new model with no CD)

Anyone able to help advise? Just want to see if I'm at risk of any possible privacy leak!

Cheers

Filevault is FDE. Without the password in your keychain, the most they'd see is your username after booting it up.
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QCube
Original post by robbo3045
Hello TSR,

Might any knowledge person in this area, be able to help me with this...

I use my Macbook for work related business, and it had some sensitive work-related documentation on it.

Last week the screen suddenly became unresponsive, and I took to an independent local computer repair store to fix it asap. They diagnosed the problem as a motherboard issue, which they have since repaired, and I have collected the machine back. Because this fault had come on so suddenly and unexpectedly, I was unable to clear any confidential documents from my machine, prior to the repair.

The mac has password protected entry and filevault enabled. My question is, during the repair, would they have been able to access files stored on the SSD very easily, or would they be met with some form of encryption? Just trying to find out how easy it would be for someone to view documents stored on the SSD. I am running a new Macbook Pro with Retina (new model with no CD)

Anyone able to help advise? Just want to see if I'm at risk of any possible privacy leak!

Cheers


I assume the documents are safe on the hard drive.

With windows having password protection on it (Although It does nothing to tech experts) It shows you want to keep some privacy of your documents. As many local computer shops know that their customer privacy is a prime matter, they do tend to take it seriously. They would only view the hard drive contents if it was a hard drive related issue. You said the screen was faulty, and they identified it as a motherboard issue. They wouldn't of had a probable cause to investigate the hard drive by any means necessary. You also had encryption on the hard drive (Is what I believe you're saying) and most encrypted hard drives are well made so I believe even if they did try and view private documents, they would've been confronted with your encryption.

Nothing to worry about :smile:.

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