Can system interact with internet without being logged in?

Can system interact with internet without being logged in?

When user starts the system and login page appears, it seems to automatically connect to the WiFi. Now, can system interact with internet (send/receive data and apply in system) without being logged in but when user is waiting for entering password on the login screen? By system I meant any system app, services, utility with permission granted.

Solution 1:

Yes.

A simple example is Find My. macOS can receive instructions from Find My to lock or erase a Mac before any user has logged in. This requires macOS to make network requests before login.

To determine what is making connections on your Mac before login, you can use Little Snitch. Create a rule to ask for any connection, then monitor the ‘login connections’ list (see Does Little Little Snitch 4 block connections during login?).