Last week's topic on 'private browsing' using Safari was a piece of cake. This week we will talk about something more advanced, something called 'stealth mode'. Again, this is an Tiger-only feature.
Like all things Apple, this advanced option is just as easy to set up.
1. Open 'System Preference'.
2.Choose 'Sharing'.
3. In 'Sharing', click the 'Firewall' tab, then look for the 'Advanced...' button at bottom-right corner.
4. Clicking on the 'Advanced...' button will pull down a page with more options. Check the box for 'Enable Stealth Mode', and you are done!
Stealth? As in Invisible?
That's right. With your Mac running in 'stealth mode', it will turn down any 'ping' or 'port scan' request from outside, so bad guys (and everybody else) just do not know you exist at all! Nifty, huh?It's geeky, but what is 'ping' and 'port scan' anyway? Well, they are very legitimate network tools that every computer science student should know. Together, they can be used to find out whether your Mac is on a particular network, and whether you leave any doors wide-opened for bytes to sneak in. System crackers (casually known as 'hackers') usually start their attacks by pinging and port-scanning your computer. Once they plant some secretive codes inside your computer and make them run, your machine will become their faithful servant, not yours. I've seen it in action before.
For an outsider to run foreign codes on your Mac is tough, much tougher than on Windows. But if the code is bad-intentioned enough, or if you are careless enough, it could still happen. By setting up the 'stealth mode', you can avoid most casual attacks by being 'invisible'.
8 comments:
I have been warned off using file sharing programes like Limewire or Bittorrent because hackers can access your computer. Will Stealth Mode protect me from this and allow me to download files from such sites safely?
yes i am wondering about the previous question also??
It won't give you any greater protection when using peer to peer applications, in fact it might actually keep them from working properly. When you use a peer to peer program, your IP address is out there for everyone to see.
From what I've read, MAC filtering is a waste of time. Anyone sniffing a wireless network will see your MAC address and can clone it.
how would this affect legitimate sharing and the use of 'bonjour'?
if i want to be found by someone (on a WAN, or a LAN), will they still be able to find me and share files?
To put it simply, "stealth mode" puts your computer to mum when someone knocks on your door. Instead of shouting to the unwelcomed packages "go away", your Mac just keep silent and play dead.
On the other hand, when you yourself establish connection with another party, be it a peer-to-peer network, or a website, or whatever, you've got to give that other party your IP address, period.
After activating the "stealth" mode, the translation widget doesn't work.
It's a safe measure the "stealth" mode, but it to much safe to me :-P
helo um about the router security i tried 3 times to put a password on it and the router woukdnt work after that
can some1 help?
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