Mac newbie- security questions!

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

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Hey guys, I'm just waiting on delivery of my shiny new Macbook Pro, CANT WAIT

I'm a total Mac newbie, well i've used them before in bits but not to any extent. I'm definitely an 'advanced' windows/PC user as they say, basically i know what im on about there so im anxious to see how i get on with OSX cos ive got no idea as yet.

Anyway enough spiel, my question is,

Do you need a security program on a mac?
If so, which is good? Should I bother?

it's going to be mainly used for Music production software and recording etc so i'm not going to be doing lots of anything else on it. but do i need to think about a third party mcafee suite or something?

Or does OSX come with its own security?

thanks :)
 
OSX firewall isn't turned on by default, so make sure you turn that on in the security settings in the system preferences panel.

As we've all used Windows, we all know that the best security is common sense. You don't "need" security software. You just need to be cautious about what you're downloading, from where you're downloading it, what you're installing and what permissions you're giving particular applications. Same sort of things you should be doing with a Windows or Linux machine.
 
There's a firewall built in. Apart from that, you don't need anything apart from common sense. This may change in the future, but not now.
 
OS X has a built in firewall like most stuff now adays, if you're sensible about surfing/installing, and you sound like you are, I don't think you need anything at all.

OS X isn't invulnerable to malware etc. It's just not targeted as Windows is.

I certainly don't run anything, although I did run Kaspersky 2011 for a while, but I noticed a few odd things happening with it so I dumped it.
 
If you are feeling overly paranoid at any point then get clamXav and run it as and when you have these urges. Do not go out and pay lots of money for poorly transfered windows av packages.
 
You just have to realise that OSX is a bit more slack than Windows when it comes to security settings, and will often default for convenience. As mentioned you have to enable the firewall yourself and it's always a good idea to check every now and again for services that are listening on ports and if you never use them, turn them off. You'll also want to uncheck the Safari "open safe files after downloading" setting (which is just asking for it) or use another browser. As always, keep on top of your software updates too.

Beyond that, if you have common sense then you have very little to worry about. There are OSX security packages out there but they're not worth it in my opinion because at the moment your chances of infection are extremely low and you're better saving your money.
 
While YOU will be unlikely to need AV software, it's always nice to be considerate - just because you are careful doesn't mean that everyone else is, and you wouldn't want to be passing nasties around. ClamXav seems pretty good, plus it detects spoofed emails (always a good thing).
 
theheyes said:
You just have to realise that OSX is a bit more slack than Windows when it comes to security settings, and will often default for convenience. As mentioned you have to enable the firewall yourself and it's always a good idea to check every now and again for services that are listening on ports and if you never use them, turn them off. You'll also want to uncheck the Safari "open safe files after downloading" setting (which is just asking for it) or use another browser. As always, keep on top of your software updates too.

Beyond that, if you have common sense then you have very little to worry about. There are OSX security packages out there but they're not worth it in my opinion because at the moment your chances of infection are extremely low and you're better saving your money.
Click to expand...

Top tip, this has been targeted recently.
 
Just to add that the built-in Snow Leopard firewall is inbound only. You may wish to invest in Little Snitch to monitor outgoing connections (it's a very good app). For peace of mind, it'd do no harm at all to run the Sophos AntiVirus Free for Mac OS X. It's tiny, takes up no resources at all, and runs in real-time.

There are a few trojans for OS X, but you'd pretty much need to authorise their install with your password. As with any platform though, there are still vulnerabilities (especially around things like Flash, browsers, java etc) which can be exploited. For 1MB of RAM and 0.5% of your CPU personally I say why NOT run Sophos? *shrug*

The PDF linked above is excellent. It's mainly aimed at enterprise/government but it's handy none-the-less. Don't forget to set up a non-administrator account for your daily use, and you may wish to encrypt your Home folder using System Preferences > Security > FileVault.
 
Rainmaker said:
The PDF linked above is excellent. It's mainly aimed at enterprise/government but it's handy none-the-less.
Click to expand...

Aye it was posted semi in jest as it's pretty full on, but it's not bad to read in a geeky kind of way if you like that sort of thing :p
 
Ev0 said:
Aye it was posted semi in jest as it's pretty full on, but it's not bad to read in a geeky kind of way if you like that sort of thing :p
Click to expand...

Quite. I read it in one sitting and then read it again when I first found it. Oodles of geeky/nerdy win. lol
 
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