7.2.8 Ensure Show Full Website Address in Safari Is Enabled

Information

Attackers use websites with malicious or unwanted content to exploit the user or the computer. Part of the attack chain is to lure someone to load their content rather than the desired content. In order to reduce the risk in interacting with unwanted content, the full website address should always be displayed in Safari.

Rationale:

Full visibility into what site is being visited is important for privacy and security.

Impact:

Many URLs are very long and complicated, particularly for internal content management systems. Some complete URLS in the Smart Search Field may be difficult to parse.

Solution

Profile Method:
Create or edit a configuration profile with the following information:

The PayloadType string is com.apple.Safari

The key to include is ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField

The key must be set to: <true/>

Note: Since the profile method sets a system-wide setting and not a user-level one, the profile method is the preferred method. It is always better to set system-wide than per user.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/14563

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|CM-10, 800-53|SC-18, CSCv7|7.1

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 0d06351104d5316394ae9d6bc62f20129cde2651a1d703c61f50d3f032a4dc5d