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Virus Protection and Internet Security
- Thread starter cgkrick
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In the System Preferences, under Sharing, there's a Firewall tab. You can turn on the inbuilt Firewall from there if you're feeling really paranoid. I personally haven't bothered.
As for viruses and spyware, they don't yet exist for Macs.
As for viruses and spyware, they don't yet exist for Macs.
If your on broadband, a router with built in firewall is preferred over the software implemenations.
VanMac said:
Only if you're prepared to do some tweaking. Out of the box, most router firewalls are pretty pathetic.
It's a good idea to turn on and configure OS X's built in firewall. There's no need for Norton (which makes things worse, usually) or spending any money, but it's good practice to close all the ports you don't need. If you take that simple step now, you won't regret it in the future. Even though there isn't any source of spyware, having 60,000+ open ports that you're not even watching doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
matticus008 said:
Doesn't OS X come out of the box with all the ports closed anyway? Don't get me wrong I'm not saying don't enable the firewall, I'm just saying there is no way OS X (or any decent UNIX like OS) would have 60K ports open.
matticus008 said:Not if you turn off the firewall.
I'm pretty sure I've nmap'd my PowerBook from my Power Mac before and no ports were open. A quick check of system preferences shows the firewall isn't on either. I know I haven't turned it off. I'm behind a decent firewall anyway so I don't care.
risc said:
Well the only way to close ports is via a firewall, and more specifically in the OS X case, iptables. So whether checked or unchecked in System Preferences, you are running iptables to keep unused ports closes, AFAIK. Disabling the firewall completely is probably something no one ever does (disabling the iptables service, I mean), so you're right in that regard
.
matticus008 said:
All broadband routers today use NAT, which offers a decent level of protection for home networks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAT. But, if you are instead directly connected to your DSL/Cable modem, then in that case, it is definetly a good idea to turn on the OS X firewall.
Quartz Extreme said:
A very good point. I'd completely forgotten about NAT firewalls making it into home routers. Mostly because I've tried to repress my memories of the very large Cisco ones, with control panels and blinking lights and holy crap what a nightmare that one week was.
risc said:
You CAN use iptables, but yes, I meant ipfw, not that there's a significant difference.
i4k20c said:
You create a new rule, name it something useful like "music pirating
" and choose what ports you want to open. Most major applications, if they need special firewall modifications, automatically make an entry in the firewall list, and you then only need to check the box to allow the traffic.
Many users consider Little Snitch an essential personal firewall that allows you to configure preset allows and denys.
It also alerts you any time your system is trying to dial out.
You may also want to look into Intego NetBarrier or IPNetSentry.
I would avoid Nortons completely for Mac.
McAfee Virex is still having CPU hoggage problems as well.
You won't need anti-virus apps to protect YOUR machine, but it
won't hurt to use free ClamXav to prevent anything from going through
your system to others.
If you're running P2P, you may want to consider running PeerVanguard.
If you're really paranoid, you can try PGP desktop.
Full military grade encryption.
It also alerts you any time your system is trying to dial out.
You may also want to look into Intego NetBarrier or IPNetSentry.
I would avoid Nortons completely for Mac.
McAfee Virex is still having CPU hoggage problems as well.
You won't need anti-virus apps to protect YOUR machine, but it
won't hurt to use free ClamXav to prevent anything from going through
your system to others.
If you're running P2P, you may want to consider running PeerVanguard.
If you're really paranoid, you can try PGP desktop.
Full military grade encryption.
some people will recommend that if you are going to use an antivirus, you may want to use Norton. I have found though that Norton on Mac acts like a lot of installed PC apps, in that it will install dependencies all over the place, and trying to clean up the install (either by hand or with norton's uninstall function) is very weak at best.
I used to just use Virex to scan certain folders, and that may work well for you as well. I believe they fixed the bug of Virex running the CPU stuck at 100% buy you should check first.
at any rate virex is very lightweight, does its job well, and for what it's worth, there hasn't been a virus yet to be written for the mac. the only thing that came close was a script that would erase the users home directory, and it had to be manually clicked by the user.
I used to just use Virex to scan certain folders, and that may work well for you as well. I believe they fixed the bug of Virex running the CPU stuck at 100% buy you should check first.
at any rate virex is very lightweight, does its job well, and for what it's worth, there hasn't been a virus yet to be written for the mac. the only thing that came close was a script that would erase the users home directory, and it had to be manually clicked by the user.