MacOS X security

[jcorbeil]

I am looking for information about security on MacOS X- how security-friendly the OS/filesystem is, etc, for a paper (or possible article) that I'm going to write. Specific questions are how does it stack up against certain other BSDs, and how easy/hard is it to harden MacOS X?

Anyone with info, or who doesn't mind doing an interview can e-mail me at my co-ords above.

Thanks,
Jcorbeil

[MacFan]

Try macosXinfo.org

[sverre]

The file system uses the same security system as every other UNIX and is just as secure. The OS is harder to know though.
It all boils down to how many of the programs that run with full priveliges have bugs, or whether the kernel has. Since OS X is still in development there's bound to be some bugs. I read somewhere that Apple won't guarantee the security until the final version.
However, many of the UNIX programs use sources from the BSD community, where most security bugs likely already have been detected.
Also, the chance of external intrusion (ie over the net) is drastically reduced if you don't run any internet services (like ftp/telnet servers), and most Mac users probably won't.