While Mac OS X is becoming more and more stable with each release, its UNIX/BSD underpinnings have security implications that ordinary Mac users have never before been faced with. Mac OS X can be used as both a powerful Internet server, or, in the wrong hands, a very powerful attack launch point.

Yet most Mac OS X books are generally quite simplistic — with the exception of the author’s Mac OS X Unleashed, the first book to address OS X’s underlying BSD subsystem.

Maximum Mac OS X Security takes a similar UNIX-oriented approach, going into significantly greater depth on OS X security topics:

* Setup basics, including Airport and network topology security.
* User administration and resource management with NetInfo.
* Types of attacks, how attacks work, and how to stop them.
* Network service security, such as e-mail, Web, and file sharing.
* Intrusion prevention and detection, and hands-on detection tools.