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I have a very sneaky neighbor who is a state cop and wouldn't put it past him to try and hack into my network or computer. Oftentimes I find files open that weren't open. He is obsessed with us and harasses us continuously (video cameras looking in my house, calls cops on us when we haven't done anything, hates us because we had to sue him and won- etc).

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    If this LEO has been harassing you, seek legal advice. Depending in which state you live, it may be illegal for him to have video cameras which cover private property (i.e., your house) without prior consent. You may also want to install security cameras yourself. Make sure they are secure and not subject to external tampering and viewing.
    – IconDaemon
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 16:58
  • You should also turn on FileVault for your boot disk as well as TimeMachine.
    – IconDaemon
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 17:06

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Whether a neighbor hacks into your network/computer is hard to say without detailled analysis. What you can do to reduce the risk is to

  • Make sure your WiFi is set to WPA2
  • Change the password on your WiFi to something which is not/not easy to guess
  • Change the passwords on all the accounts on your computer
  • Check whether there are accounts visible in System Preferences->Users & Groups which don't belong to you

This will not prevent a dedicated attacker from finding a way in of course, but might be enough to keep sneaky neighbors out.

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    - Do not respond to phishing emails/ calls ;)
    – anki
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 16:57
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As the other answer says secure your network.

  • if your router does not support wpa2 get a new one.
  • change the network password to something very secure
  • disable WPS/ssh/remote administration etc on the router
  • There is a lot more you could do here.

In addition to securing your network there are some things you can do to secure your mac itself.

  • set a strong password for all your user accounts in preferences users and groups
  • remove unnecessary user accounts, disable the guest account if present
  • in the preferences->sharing, disable every type of sharing unless you really need it and have set a very strong password for it.
  • enable the firewall in preferences->security and privacy (if something stops working try to put an exception instead of disabling the firewall)
  • don't leave the computer unattended in an unsecured location and allow the attacker physical access
  • enable FileVault
  • always lock your computer when you step away and in case you forget, set the display to sleep more quickly and require a password when waking
  • don't plug in removable media you get from untrusted sources (for example a flash drive found on the porch or driveway)
  • ignore phishing emails and calls (if you are the target of a hacking attempt with a dedicated enough foe these can be very sophisticated)
  • delete unneeded sensitive files from your computer and encrypt those that you need to keep with an additional password.
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