Just as a recap for this series, let’s have a look at the security that has been built into the Mac.

The Mac has a great track record for security, thanks not only to a development process that includes security from the design phase, but also to a commitment to making security features easy to use. Security in Mac OS X is grounded in a few simple principles:

Secure from the start.
You don’t have to be a security expert to confi gure your Mac to be secure at home or on the road—you just need to know how to turn on the computer. That’s because the default settings safely restrict how your Mac communicates on the network.

Easy to keep secure.
Apple makes it easy to keep your Mac secure with digitally digned automatic software updates. Mac checks for updates every week by default, but you can set it to check as frequently as every day.

Easy to make even more secure.
With tools to help you create strong passwords, File Vault to encrypt the contents of your home directory, and a firewall to provided an added measure of network protection, Mac OS X makes it easy to enhance the security of your Mac.

Improvements in Leopard
In Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard includes a host of new security features and technologies are designed to enhance the protection of your Mac and your personal information. The goal is to strengthen Mac security with features that are as invisible and intuitive as possible, while giving you easy tools to help make your Mac even more secure.

Better Trojan horse protection.
Leopard marks files that are downloaded to help prevent users from inadvertently running malicious downloaded applications.

Stronger runtime security.
New technologies such as library randomization and sandboxing help to stymie attacks that try to hijack or modify the software on your system.

Easier network security.
Once you’ve activated the new Leopard application firewall, it automatically configures itself so you get the benefits of firewall protection without having to understand the details of network ports and protocols.

Improved secure connectivity.
Virtual private network (VPN) support has been enhanced to connect to more of the most popular VPN servers—without additional software.

Meaningful security alerts.
When users receive security alerts and questions too frequently, they may fall into refl exive mode when the system asks a security-related question, clicking OK without thought. Leopard has been designed to minimize the number of security alerts that you see, so when you do see one, it gets your attention.

In summary, Mac OS X – out of the box is a secure platform – but it also allows room for improvement.

If you are looking for the previous articles, they can be found here:

• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 1
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 2
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 3
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 4
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 5
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 6
• Mac OS X – inherently secure? – part 7

In our next article, we will drill down a little and have a look at more of the specifics.