❗	We recommend working off of one of the OS branches, rather than the main branch.

The macOS Security Compliance Project is an open source effort to provide a programmatic approach to generating security guidance. The configuration settings in this document were derived from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations, Revision 5. This is a joint project of federal operational IT Security staff from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

This project is the technical implementation of NIST Special Publication, 800-219 Automated Secure Configuration Guidance from the macOS Security Compliance Project (mSCP). NIST Special Publication 800-219 is the official guidance from for automated secure configuration for macOS.

Apple acknowledges the macOS Security Compliance Project with information on their Platform Certifications page.

This project can be used as a resource to easily create customized security baselines of technical security controls by leveraging a library of atomic actions which are mapped to the compliance requirements defined in NIST SP 800-53 (Rev. 5). It can also be used to develop customized guidance to meet the particular cybersecurity needs of any organization.

To learn more about the project, please see the wiki.

If you are interested in supporting the development of the project, refer to the contributor guidance for more information.

Usage

Civilian agencies are to use the National Checklist Program as required by NIST 800-70.

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Part 39 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations, section 39.101 paragraph (c) states, “In acquiring information technology, agencies shall include the appropriate information technology security policies and requirements, including use of common security configurations available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s website at https://checklists.nist.gov. Agency contracting officers should consult with the requiring official to ensure the appropriate standards are incorporated.”

Authors

Bob Gendler	NIST
Allen Golbig	Jamf
Dan Brodjieski	NASA
John Mahlman IV	Leidos
Jason Blake	NIST
Blair Heiserman	NIST
Joshua Glemza	NASA
Elyse Anderson	NASA
Gary Gapinski	NASA

Changelog

Refer to the CHANGELOG for a complete list of changes.

NIST Disclaimer

Any identification of commercial or open-source software in this document is done so purely in order to specify the methodology adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the software identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.