文件名称：MAC Security Bible
文件大小：17.61MB
文件格式：PDF
更新时间：2016-01-10 19:19:07
MAC Security
For years, one of the most compelling selling points of Macs has been their apparent freedom from many of the security problems that have long plagued Windows users. Countless people have switched to Macs because they want to stop worrying about viruses, spyware, and other threats so common to PC users. According to conventional wisdom (and even some Apple marketing), Macs are inherently much safer than Windows PCs — and, sure enough, millions of people use Macs every day without incident, having never given a moment’s thought to security. And yet, curiously, some guy seems to have come up with enough to say about Mac security to fill a rather thick and heavy book. How can that be? Are Macs really as insecure as other computers — and are Mac users a bunch of blissfully ignorant folks on the fast track to digital oblivion? Or are the supposed security risks to Mac users nothing more than fear-mongering on the part of an over- zealous publisher? Although Macs have many effective security features and are, in my humble opinion, vastly supe- rior to PCs for a long list of reasons, the truth of the matter is that a computer running Mac OS X isn’t inherently more secure than a computer running Windows (at least if it’s a recent version of Windows). Fabulous user interface and industrial design notwithstanding, Macs are still comput- ers, and they’re still vulnerable to the kinds of risks that can affect any other computer. The main reason Mac users have largely escaped the threats of viruses and other malware is that most of the people creating such nasty software simply want the most bang for their buck — so they choose the platform with the biggest base of users. There’s no technical reason devastating Mac viruses couldn’t exist — and perhaps some day they will. Be that as it may, malware is just one tiny piece of the security puzzle. Another piece is physical security — preventing theft and unauthorized access or tracking a stolen Mac. There’s also the matter of keeping confidential data private, whether it’s on disk, in an email message, or typed in a form on a web page. And let’s not forget network security. Macs use the same public Internet as other computers and are just as prone to attacks from people sniffing network traffic, creating fraudulent websites, and stealing (or guessing) passwords. The list goes on and on — just take a look at the Table of Contents!