James Rohde wrote: > On 04/01/2003 10:16 AM, Bill McIntyre wrote: > > >>Does this mean that I really don't need my firewall? It makes my mail >>receiving and web surfing a little bit slower, and I'd prefer to turn it >>off if I really don't need it to keep someone from accessing my Quicken >>files, etc. >> >>I seem to recall that some MacWorld article said that Mac users didn't >>need a firewall "as much" as Windows folks, but I still ended up with the > > > I think the article was about right - it's like anti-virus software, that > Mac users are less prone to attacks (from virus or hackers trying to get > in your DSL connection), but we're not invincible. It's still a good > thing to have if you're hooked up all the time, if for nothing else than > that 13-year old hacker whose specialty is trying to hack Macs...
Someone running Classic with no Guest sharing allowed is *invulnerable*...there is no way to hack it beyond the hacker getting *you* to run *their* programs on your Mac. This is why www.army.mil is still hosted on Macs running OS9. They are unhackable. 13-year old hackers out there don't even *consider* Macs as targets. Macs running OSX are somewhat more vulnerable, but if you're not using any services, such as SSH, Web server, File sharing, etc, then, again, there's *no* need for a firewall. Any system running tcp/ip can be hit with a Denial of Service attack, but that will only affect your connection to the outside world, not the system itself. The number 1 target of hackers in the world are Windows systems. They are also target number 2 through target number 999 target of hackers in the world. I'd estimate that 99% of all hacker attacks are done with prepackaged scripts attacking known vulnerabilities. My web server (a Quid Pro Quo server running on a Performa 6214) is *still* being hit with Code Red attacks. Code Red was first described in July 2001 <http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-19.html>. Our e-mail bvirus catcher is catching almost exclusively Yaha and Klez viruses. Both have been around for *months* The media routinely hypes the danger the *hackers* pose to computers <http://www.vmyths.com/> . It is vastly overblown, and for Macs, essentially non-existent, to the point that I would consider people selling 'firewalls' for the Mac OS to be selling snake oil. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
