Ensure all APFS and HFS+ external user storage volumes are encrypted

HighLevel 1Automatedmacos

Description

Apple developed the APFS (Apple File System) structure primarily for flash and solid- state drives. This file structure was first made available in 10.12 and then became the default in 10.13. Apple introduced CoreStorage with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. It is used as the default for formatting on macOS volumes prior to macOS 10.13 High Sierra. All HFS and CoreStorage Volumes should be encrypted. CoreStorage has been deprecated and replaced with APFS for volume encryption. In order to protect user data from loss or tampering volumes, carrying data should be encrypted.

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

[ -x /usr/sbin/diskutil ] || exit 1
out=$(/usr/sbin/diskutil list external | /usr/bin/grep -E 'APFS Volume|Apple_HFS|Logical Volume' | /usr/bin/awk '{print $NF}' | /usr/bin/xargs -n1 /usr/sbin/diskutil info | /usr/bin/grep -E "Volume Name|FileVault")
if printf '%s\n' "$out" | /usr/bin/grep -qE 'FileVault: +No'; then printf '%s\n' "$out"; else echo compliant; fi

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Use Disk Utility to erase a user disk and format as APFS (Encrypted). Note: It is recommended using APFS over HFS+ where possible. If you do need to use an HFS+/CoreStorage external drive for compatibility reasons, you need to format the drive to MacOS Extended (Journaled) (or MacOS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled) if Case-Sensitive is required).

Properties

Operating systems: macos-14
Tags: encryptionmacossonoma
Reference: CIS Apple macOS 14.0 Sonoma Benchmark v3.1.0 - 5.3.2 Ensure all APFS and HFS+ external user storage volumes are encrypted

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target macos