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   Take Control of Security for Mac Users, Chapter 6: Improve Your Network
   Security

   Joe Kissell

   This article is a pre-release chapter in the upcoming 'Take Control of
   Security for Mac users,' by Joe Kissell, scheduled for public release
   later in 2015. Apart from [1]Chapter 1: Introducing Mac Security, and
   [2]Chapter 2: Learn Security Basics, these chapters are available only
   to [3]TidBITS members; see [4]'Take Control of Security for Mac Users'
   Streaming in TidBITS for details.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6: Improve Your Network Security

   Macs usually connect to the outside world using Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
   ('Outside world' might mean another Mac across the room or a server on
   the other side of the planet.) In fact, most of us have become so
   dependent on network access that we find it hard to get any work done
   if that all-important Internet connection goes down.

   That dependence on interacting with other devices is both a strength
   and a weakness. It gives us access to massive power and instantaneous
   global communication'but it also gives the bad guys an attractive
   target. This chapter discusses the reasons for protecting your network
   connection and how to go about doing so.

What You're Trying to Protect Against

   Broadly speaking, the point of network security'or at least, the
   particular subset of network security I cover in this chapter'is to
   protect data as it flows to and from your Mac over both local networks
   and the Internet. (In Chapter 7, Fortify Your Mac's Defenses, I talk
   about another aspect of network security'protecting your Mac itself
   from intrusions and damaged caused by network-based attacks.) But what
   sort of threats might your network communication face, and from whom?

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