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My new IMac says to turn on the magic keyboard to pair. I thought it was already paired when it came in the box. My question is about security. How does it pair by just turning on without doing an authentication process to prevent a "man in the middle" attack.
Thanks!
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iMac (M4)
There is a now old, but still relevant discussion about Bluetooth security here: How safe is Apple's Bluetooth wireless ke… - Apple Community
Apple has technical information available about their use of Bluetooth here: Bluetooth security - Apple Support
The most important snippet from that discussion is that "Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology". Therefore, unless you are setting up and using your keyboard within close range of others, you are going to be just fine. Please consider your own personal threat model. If you believe that your threat model may include an adversary taking the effort to exploit your Bluetooth connections, then the simple solution is to use a hardwired keyboard and mouse instead.
Set up your Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, or Magic Trackpad with your Mac - Apple Support
"If the device came in the box of your new Mac, it should already be paired with that Mac, and it automatically connects when you turn on the device."
For any of the newer rechargeable models, if you plug them into a USB port on your Mac (with a cable capable of carrying data),
"The device uses the USB connection to recharge its battery and automatically pair with your Mac."
With older models, you might need to do traditional Bluetooth pairing.
For me it is within range of many people. I want to add that I am not very worried but I still care about my computer's security. A keyboard that can be snooped would be catastrophic albeit I agree the probability is low.
I also read that article. What I am questioning is how a new IMac gets paired just by turning the keyboard on. A wired pairing process would be fine but it did not ask for that. I am wondering why? That is a fair security question.
Thank you for finding that. I actually read that before positing and that is the reason I am posting my question. During setup it says "Pair your keyboard" and below "To pair a bluetooth keyboard turn it on and wait for your computer to connect to it". You can see a video of what I am talking about here.
minute 7:34
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It was fully charged and I did not plug it in. If you search online you can videos of unboxing the new IMac and in some of them you can see the same message I saw about "pairing". I am wondering if it is really pairing or just connecting an already paired device.
I believe that if a keyboard came in the box, it’s pre-paired by Apple. However, if you wanted to use a different keyboard then that is just telling you that it’s time to put it in pairing mode so it shows up in the list to click on to pair. It doesn’t just pair to any keyboard in range. I recently had to do that with my new Mac Mini and the Magic Keyboard that I purchased separately.
I am not sure if I responded to your comment. The online manuals say the keyboard and IMac should arrive paired. My whole question and concern is during setup it explicitly said to turn on the keyboard to “pair”. It did not ask to be plugged in or ask me, the user to enter a password into the keyboard, so I cannot see how this pairing process is secure. Maybe Apple misused the word “pair” in the setup process.
The following article states that when ordered together, the keyboard is paired at the factory: Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - Apple Support
+1 to @FishingAddict.
Did you possibly plug your new keyboard into your Mac charge it?
That is my question. Did it really arrive pre-paired? If not then it paired in a way that I think was not secure.
How does the Magic Keyboard pair with the iMac
