Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Chapter 13. Security Basics

Thanks to the inherent security of its Unix foundation and a secure-by-default configuration, Panther doesn’t give its users much to worry about at first boot-up. However, Panther does include several features that help keep out intruders as you accumulate data and customize the default configuration.

Potential threats exist to many elements of an operating system, and, in most cases, Panther’s security features address them to a degree greatly surpassing what’s required for a typical user. With a bit of additional tightening, Panther can operate with a level of security acceptable for even much more sensitive environments.

General Security

Panther has several general security features that contribute to the protection of the entire system.

Unix Features

As was covered in Chapter 7, Mac OS X’s Unix foundation provides for the basic permissions model that keeps system and user files and processes separate and protected. But equally important for security is Panther’s open source roots, in the form of Darwin, which allows anyone to scour the source code for potential vulnerabilities and provide (or allow Apple to provide) fixes quickly. Darwin’s source code, corresponding with the open source core that ships with Panther, is available freely through http://developer.apple.com/darwin. Apple generally makes available new Darwin versions not long after they’ve been released as part of each new Mac OS X version.

Also, because Mac OS X can run much of the same software ...