Mac OS X Leopard Security Preview

Sebastiaan got a chance to sneak a look at Apple MAC OS X Leopard and took some time to review its security practices.

Leopard’s revamped Firewall adds much more granular control of the network traffic that is allowed to and from the Mac. Apple has also removed InputMangers which might have been used by malware/spyware in the future.

It has been in the news lately that InputManagers no longer work in Leopard. If anyone was wondering if the loss of InputManagers would really cost Apple’s OS X it’s bleeding edge in user customization and hacking…I consider it very good news that runtime code injection isn’t a possibility now….This could, quite certainly, hinder OS X86 hackers and break future exploits.

This proactive move demonstrates Apple’s commitment to security. While InputManagers allowed a lot of shareware programs and customizations of the Mac OS X to work, it made it a little to easy for malicious people to possibly use it for malware and spyware.

[Review: Security in OS X Leopard Preview Build]

[tags]Apple Mac OS X, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Leopard, Leopard, Security, Firewall, Server Admin[/tags]