How to Manage System Integrity Protection on Mac

System Integrity Protection, or SIP for short, is a Mac component meant to help protect users from potentially harmful software and files. It is a core security feature, which should not be disabled unless you are 100% certain that you can stay away from potentially dangerous content. Understandably, some users prefer to turn restrictions like SIP off, and in this post we will teach you how to manage System Integrity Protection on Mac.

Turning off the System Integrity Protection temporarily may help fix rare software issues like the 'Cannot attach to process due to System Integrity Protection.' Of course, keep in mind that malicious apps may spoof this message to trick you into disabling this vital security feature. Never disable SIP unless you are absolutely certain that the software you are trying to run will not cause damage to your system.

Before turning off SIP, it is always recommended to use Time Machine to create a backup point in case something goes wrong. In addition to this, running 3rd-party Mac antivirus software is also strongly recommended since this would keep you safe from malware even with SIP turned off.

How to Disable System Integrity Protection

Disabling SIP requires a restart, so follow these instructions:

1. Click on the Apple Logo in the menu bar, and select Restart.
2. While your Mac is booting up, hold down the Command + R buttons to start in Recovery Mode. Or check out our post on How to Start Mac in Recovery Mode.
3. Open Utilities -> Terminal and enter csrutil disable. To re-enable SIP, follow the same instructions but this time enter the command csrutil enable.
4. Restart the system again.