Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

Leopard Security
Besides protecting your data from hardware failure and accidents, in today’s world, where
computers tend to be always connected, it’s also important to protect your data from
other users—both on your computer and outside of it. This chapter deals with security, including
the following topics:
• Passwords and keychains
• Data encryption and FileVault
• Other security features
Passwords and Keychains
Passwords are used time and time again on your computer: logging in to your account, checking
your e-mail, visiting certain web sites, logging in to connected servers, and more. There are so
many passwords that it becomes a chore to keep track of them all. To help manage all of your
passwords, security certificates, and encryption keys, OS X includes a keychain feature to keep
track of all of this information.
The Keychain Feature
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Whenever you enter a password into an application that takes advantage of the OS X keychain,
you will be prompted whether to save the username-password combination in your keychain. If
you select yes, then the next time you log in, rather than getting a prompt to enter your username
and password, the application will automatically use what’s already saved in your keychain.
Now your keychain will only use the passwords stored in it under certain circumstances:
• The keychain will only use data saved in the logged-in user’s keychain, so your keychain is
protected from all other users (excepting shared keychains).
• By default, passwords associated with a particular application allow only that application
to access the password item in your keychain. Often when you update your application
and attempt to use it, you will be prompted to update the key to work with the updated
application (you will need to authorize the update).
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