Mac OS® X Tiger™ Unleashed

Using the Built-in Tiger Firewall

A firewall is something interposed between the stuff that's important and the stuff that's dangerous. In a vehicle, this is the bit of the car that separates the passenger compartment from the engine, protecting the riders from dangers that might occur under the hood. In the world of computers, the firewall sits between the outside network and network services on your computer to protect the computer from network-based attacks. Not that long ago, firewalls were seldom seen, annoying things that got in your way, hindered your work, and generally annoyed everyone, including the seemingly dictatorial network administrators who imposed them on their users. Now, everyone wants one.

The most effective firewalls are ...