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Very basic security questions - Help!
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<blockquote data-quote="Randy B. Singer" data-source="post: 1710120" data-attributes="member: 190607"><p>I'm just going by many years of experience with tens of thousands of Macintosh users. </p><p></p><p>Once again, I've never heard of a first hand believable instance of someone hacking into a Macintosh. I'm sure that it is possible for someone with enough skill, but I think that it is so difficult and rare that the chances of it happening to an ordinary Macintosh user are just about zero and thus not at all a concern. I don't think that there are a lot of hackers out there, I don't think that there are many who are that good, and I think that those that are that good aren't interested in what is on an ordinary Mac user's computer.</p><p></p><p>Now, intercepting Internet traffic at a coffee shop *is* fairly common. Mainly because it is not terribly hard to do. So, if one is going to be using a public network one should either be very careful not to include sensitive/valuable information in the data that they are communicating (i.e. banking passwords, credit card numbers, etc.) or they should use a VPN.</p><p></p><p>You can do anything that you want if it makes you feel safer. However, if the topic is "things that Mac users should be doing to protect themselves from bad guys," then turning on their software firewall is very far down that list.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2871286/how-and-why-you-should-use-a-vpn-to-protect-your-datas-final-mile.html" target="_blank">http://www.macworld.com/article/2871286/how-and-why-you-should-use-a-vpn-to-protect-your-datas-final-mile.html</a></p><p>"Your greatest security and privacy risk relates to data in transit, as it passes to and from your devices. In a coffeeshop, airport, or other public space using Wi-Fi, your information passes in the clear between your hardware and the network’s hub."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Randy B. Singer, post: 1710120, member: 190607"] I'm just going by many years of experience with tens of thousands of Macintosh users. Once again, I've never heard of a first hand believable instance of someone hacking into a Macintosh. I'm sure that it is possible for someone with enough skill, but I think that it is so difficult and rare that the chances of it happening to an ordinary Macintosh user are just about zero and thus not at all a concern. I don't think that there are a lot of hackers out there, I don't think that there are many who are that good, and I think that those that are that good aren't interested in what is on an ordinary Mac user's computer. Now, intercepting Internet traffic at a coffee shop *is* fairly common. Mainly because it is not terribly hard to do. So, if one is going to be using a public network one should either be very careful not to include sensitive/valuable information in the data that they are communicating (i.e. banking passwords, credit card numbers, etc.) or they should use a VPN. You can do anything that you want if it makes you feel safer. However, if the topic is "things that Mac users should be doing to protect themselves from bad guys," then turning on their software firewall is very far down that list. [url]http://www.macworld.com/article/2871286/how-and-why-you-should-use-a-vpn-to-protect-your-datas-final-mile.html[/url] "Your greatest security and privacy risk relates to data in transit, as it passes to and from your devices. In a coffeeshop, airport, or other public space using Wi-Fi, your information passes in the clear between your hardware and the network’s hub." [/QUOTE]
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