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Many users nowadays have a mobile focus. Working away from any centralized office or workspace, many users find themselves being productive everywhere—from coffee shops to client offices to hotels and even 30,000 feet in the air when traveling. Business knows no barriers!
With this decentralized model, it is easier for devices—as well as the data stored on those devices—to be lost or stolen.SEE: From the dark web to the 'open' web: What happens to stolen data
As a simple yet effective way to brand devices and allow for important advisory information to be displayed, Apple created a screen lock message that can appear on a device's logon screen with any custom message set by the user or the company that owns the device. This is similar to Windows devices using Group Policy or registry modifications to display important information at the logon screen.
SEE: Research: Apple rated highest for security on mobile devices
Mac users running 10.7 (Lion) to 10.11 (El Capitan) can easily enable this setting. Follow these steps to take advantage of the custom lock screen message.
1. Launch System Preferences (Figure A).
Figure A
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2. Click Security & Privacy (Figure B).
Figure B
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3. Check the box next to Show A Message When The Screen Is Locked and Set Lock Message... will appear. Click the Set Lock Message... button.
4. In the new box, enter the custom message you wish to display on-screen during the lock or logon screen. Click the OK button to save the message (Figure C).
Figure C
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5. Once the message is entered, lock your screen or log off and the message should appear below the username/password text box (Figure D).
Figure D
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Additionally, if you wish to customize and format the lock screen message (e.g., you may want to include a return address in the event that the device needs to be mailed back to you), it can be typed into a word processor and then copy and pasted into the text box.
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Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-set-up-a-custom-lock-screen-message-on-your-mac/#ftag=RSS56d97e7