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Preferences: Access Control

set the username, password, and port number needed to connect to your Mac


The Access Control preference pane allows you to change the username and passphrase needed to access your Mac, as well as the port number used by the iGet Mobile web server. This page documents how to change those items, but before doing so, it is important to know some basic facts about passphrases and security.

An important note about usernames, passwords, and security

It is tempting to use short, convenient usernames and passwords. But it is a very bad idea.

Many Mac users don't know this, but system crackers (i.e., what most people call "hackers") attempt to break into all of our computers on a regular basis. There might not be reason that an attacker would specifically target you or your Mac, but because of how the Internet works, they will target your system anyhow.

This is because there are are only a few billion addresses on the Internet, currently. That sounds like a lot, but there are hundreds of thousands of crackers around the world. With all of these attackers using automated tools to quickly scan IP addresses at random, and then trying to break into the computers that respond, in a given year your computer is probably attacked dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times.

You might never notice, because Mac OS X is a relatively secure OS, and most of these attacks fail, and the automated system cracking software moves on to the next address. But if you set up a server on your Mac and use, for example, the username "jeff" and the password "jeff", an attacker WILL gain access to your Mac, guaranteed. lt's just a matter of time.

That's because the software used by crackers is pretty sophisticated. It runs through a dictionary of names and name combinations, and then tries each with many common permutations of passwords. So even if you made the password "jeff123jeff", your Mac would probably still get broken into.

How to create a good username password combination

There are many things you can do to make your server resistant to automated attacks like this.

Ultimately, the balance of convenience vs. security is up to you, but you should be aware of the risks. With this understanding, you can create a username and passphrase that works for you, while still providing a good measure of security.

Some examples of username/passphrase combinations:

 
Username
Passphrase
Comment
David K. Morgan clam 1978 sKK bKK yeah!! Great. Secure, yet easy.
DavidM Me likes m00nbeams Still pretty good
dave s#jKIs_hd$$k12 Good, but hard to remember
dave i like girls Not real great
dave dave2080 Poor. Based on username.
dave girls Terrible. Not secure at all.

Once you've decided on a username and password, you can specify it (or change it at any time) using the Access Control preference pane.

screen shot

The Access Control preference pane.

When you change the username and password, if the server is running at the time, it will be stopped and restarted.

Next: Preferences: Network


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