Securing Your Mac

There's a pretty good article in the November 2007 issue of MacWorld called Secure Your Mac. Beyond the offensively obvious items such as "Choose Strong Passwords", there are a couple of really good tips.

1. Change Your Keychain Password. Many people (myself included) don't realize your keychain of passwords is entirely accessible once you log in to your Mac. Your Mac login unlocks the keychain, so if you step away from your computer, anyone can access without restriction your passwords for Airport settings and even web site passwords that Safari stores in the keychain. Solution: open Keychain Access, select Show Keychains, select your default keychain (usually called 'login'), then choose Edit | Change Password for Keychain, and choose a different password from your login.
   
   
2. Encrypt Sensitive Files. Acknowledging the instability inherent in Mac's FileVault, MacWorld describes a better way to encrypt your sensitive data, by creating an encrypted disk image: In Disk Utility, create a new disk image by selecting File | New | Blank Disk Image. Under Encryption, select 'AES-128'. Select 'Sparse Disk Image' from the Format popup box, specify a name and location, and move all your sensitive files to this location once you mount the disk. Eject the disk when you're through editing/viewing these top-secret files.