How much do you care about security under Mac OS X?
I know that Mac OS X is much more secure than windows in its nature and design. But I am just too used to worrying about security in the windows world and kind of becoming paranoid about it.
So, my question is: What do you do to protect yourself in Mac OS X?
Here are a few answers that I can think of:
1. Do nothing.
2. Update when the update utility tells you to.
3. Use antivirus softwares.
4. Use firewall softwares(there is one built-in, huh?)
5. Use some spyware/adware/malware control softwares.
6. ...Add yourself... :P
Please point me to articles on the web about security under Mac OS X if you know of any.
Thanks.
So, my question is: What do you do to protect yourself in Mac OS X?
Here are a few answers that I can think of:
1. Do nothing.
2. Update when the update utility tells you to.
3. Use antivirus softwares.
4. Use firewall softwares(there is one built-in, huh?)
5. Use some spyware/adware/malware control softwares.
6. ...Add yourself... :P
Please point me to articles on the web about security under Mac OS X if you know of any.
Thanks.
Comments
That's it.
There are no viruses or worms for the Mac. Period. Anti-virus packages just protect Windows users you may send infected files to. (And where did you get those nasty files in the first place? Ta-da!)
Not sure I know of any spy or malware, either. If you're concerned about such things, go grab Little Snitch, it lets you know when any app tries to connect on any port - you can see what's going on, and categorically allow or deny known behaviours, and be alerted to new suspicious ones. I run it from time to time, and it's never popped up anything of note.
Basically, relax. You're in good hands.
Software Firewall On.
Security Update regularly and Permissions repair weekly.
PithHelmet blocking ads and limited Cookie settings.
And I think I've still got "auto open attachments" off in Safari and Mail.
Otherwise, a bit of macabre vicarious pleasure at the misery of the Win world.
(Except when it means I have to fix family PC machines due to virus/worm/trojan/spyware/... )
Originally posted by koyi
Please point me to articles on the web about security under Mac OS X if you know of any
Google Says...
Basically, use all of those features with the exception of FileVault, although I don't know whether that's improved since I last heard.
I set OS X to ask for password when returning from sleep and screen saver.
I have my own user account and then a "common" account that my friends can use freely. It's a managed account, can't launch all the programs. My desktop is very personal with the calendar, to-do and stuff always open, I don't want others poking around if I can help it.
I would have liked to use a FTP server just a while ago, but I am too security conscious to make extra users on this machine just to give access to FTP. I'd like to be able to keep public FTP and Windows file sharing, and to be able to create FTP-only users, who cannot login remotely or locally. Dunno if this is possible, haven't looked into it.
I have disabled all cookies by default in Firefox and insert exceptions (like web forums) manually. I greatly dislike the opposite, blacklist-type solution for this kind of problem.
I have considered using, but have not yet set Filevault and Open Firmware password. I'm not sure if a laptop in sleep with these two enabled is really secure, of if a proficient guy could pick the Filevault password from swap on another computer and open the Filevault contents.
I am going to setup an automatic net backup *somehow* once I get my BSD box installed and ready. Haven't looked into it yet, but it's a high priority. I find proper backups would be the single most important security measure for most people, but hardly anyone makes backups.
Originally posted by tonton
Why not make this a poll?
Computer security is not something that can be reduced into a poll. People have differing security needs and situations. Even if you put together a poll, there would always be security measures you did not consider but which are important for someone else.
If you think a poll of the *most common* security measures is in order, go and make one, but it definitely calls for a different thread.
Originally posted by tonton
Why not make this a poll?
Originally posted by Gon
Computer security is not something that can be reduced into a poll.
I tried to make it a poll just now but since it is hard to group all the security tips and guides into only 10 options, I quitted. Perhaps we can keep this thread alive or make another new thread so that we will have a collection of security tips?
Originally posted by koyi
...Perhaps we can keep this thread alive or make another new thread so that we will have a collection of security tips?
The best security tip i know actually is:
USE A MAC (even with all gates open, there is nothing that could really harm the system)