7.1 Wireless technology on macOS

Information

Some organizations have comprehensive rules that cover the use of wireless technologies in order to implement operational security. There are specific policies governing the use of both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (802.11) that often include disabling the wireless capability in either software or hardware or both.

Wireless access is part of the feature set required for mobile computers and is considered essential for most users. The general use case for macOS is to use wireless connectivity, Apple provides a wireless network card and Bluetooth capability in almost every product they make. Bluetooth keyboards are now the default selection where a keyboard is not already integrated into the device.

There are instructions on how to remove parts of the operating system in order to remediate wireless connectivity but they are not recommended within the scope of this Benchmark.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/99686/how-to-easily-and-completely-disable-enable-wlan-so-it-cannot-be-turned-on-agai

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/123326/disable-bluetooth-permanently

macOS computers will not allow this if System Integrity Protection is enabled.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3092

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-18, CSCv7|15

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 19462e9fc5ea5a8543071df432310a9aa59e1013124c25e9489d0b7f3feb6b70