Computers are everywhere these days, especially on set and in production offices, while containing the most sensitive data for a given project including scripts, creative material, financial data, and personal information. Netflix believes the following settings are the most effective ways to guard production data and are also great for use on home computers to protect your own data. In addition to getting new hardware and full support, all computers issued by Netflix TechOps have these settings already applied; we strongly recommended using their gear when possible. For help in applying the recommended settings to personally owned machines, please click the relevant links to be taken to support pages.
- Keep Up to Date - Keeping your computer’s operating system and applications up to date is critical in protecting your data. Both Mac and Windows offer Automatic Updates, where you’ll be prompted whenever there’s a new patch to apply - just make sure to reboot when prompted! Windows 10 configures this by default, where on Mac you’ll need to enable it. Currently, we recommend the following operating system versions:
- Apple Mac OS X 10.14 Mojave, 10.13 High Sierra
- Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Applications also need to be updated: make sure to update them when prompted. If you need to run an out of date version for an extended period of time, please contact us for guidance.
- Encryption - Just in case a computer goes missing, we strongly recommend that the hard drives be encrypted; on Mac that’s called FileVault and on Windows, Bitlocker. There’s no impact on performance and whenever your computer is locked or powered off, your data isn’t accessible to anyone without your password. We recommend using your Windows or iCloud accounts for ease of use and recovery.
- Screen Lock & Saver - To make disk encryption effective, machines need to be locked when not in use. You’ll want to set a passphrase to log into your account, disable any automatic logins (Mac), and set your screensaver to turn on after 5 minutes of inactivity (Windows, Mac). Make sure a password is required to unlock!
- Firewall - Both Windows and Mac have built-in firewalls to prevent anyone from connecting to your computer. Windows has this turned on automatically, while Mac users should turn it on immediately.
- Antivirus - Both Windows and Mac contain antivirus capabilities to protect against malware. We do not recommend the use of third party antivirus programs as they can cause conflicts with the integrated tools and offer little to no added protection.
- Remote Access - While it can be handy to log into your computer from another, using programs like Remote Desktop (Windows), Remote Login (Mac), or Logmein, it also allows an attacker a way to do the same. We do not recommend the use of any such programs. Please contact us if you see a need.
- Guest Accounts - On Mac, ensure that Guest Users cannot log into your machine.
- Lost/Stolen Devices - Any lost or stolen computer containing production data should be reported immediately to Netflix Studio Information Security. This includes those issued by Netflix and our Production partners, as well as personally owned (“box rental”) machines used for work.
- On Macs, we recommend using Find My, which helps to locate or wipe a missing device.