Can my employer snoop on my home Mac via Universal Control?

January 18, 2023 1:30 PM

Have a Macbook for work and a Mac mini at home. If they're 'connected' via Universal Control, could my employer conceivably see what is happening on my non-company-owned device?
posted by po822000 to Technology (6 answers total)

I don't know a lot about universal control, but suspect the answer is theoretically possibly, but practically not likely. Apple has done quite a bit of work in terms of security, and more over, the chances your work is interested in the amount of effort required seem rather slim to me.
posted by Alensin at 1:34 PM on January 18, 2023

I believe you can turn off Universal Control in System Preferences on the non-company-owned device.
posted by pipeski at 2:56 PM on January 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

universal control only works on local networks. i guess maybe it could work across a vpn? but it doesn’t seem likely. i would not be worried about this personally
posted by dis_integration at 3:00 PM on January 18, 2023

I suspect the poster is also using the macbook at home. My answer would then be only if they have installed something on the macbook that let's them access it remotely.
posted by piyushnz at 3:26 PM on January 18, 2023

They can't snoop "via" Universal Control but they could get a lot of information from your use of the Mac mini because UC requires that both devices be logged into the same iCloud account, presumably the one owned by your employer. This includes (potentially, depending on how careful you are with your settings) passwords stored in the iCloud Keychain, Safari browsing history, photos in the Photos app, anything you save to iCloud Drive, Messages (only those synced to the iCloud account), Calendar (only those synced to the iCloud account), etc.

At the very least you should make sure that your mini has another administrative user account on it (that isn't logged into your employer-owned iCloud account). And you should be using that other account for anything not work related.

IMHO the (very limited!) benefits of Universal Control are not worth giving an employer any access to a personal device.
posted by bcwinters at 3:32 PM on January 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'd forgotten about the iCloud element of it. So yes, as long as you aren't logged into your home machine with the work iCloud account, it shouldn't be a concern.
posted by pipeski at 3:41 PM on January 18, 2023