Mac Labs and security

[Phelptwan]

So I've been asked a question at work and now I'm going to relay that question to the minds of the [H]orde. There are several public (and private) mac (OSX in most cases) labs around campus. NONE of these labs have any security measures in place other than driveshield (macshield). What we are worried about is if one of these machines is infected (i know...not likely) it may act as a server or separate node to infect other computers on the network, or it may infect a usb key or something. And finally to the question I was asked "Are there any security measures to protect a Mac lab?". Sadly the only suggestion I had was Norton, but as far as I know it's woefully inadequate and does nothing but slow down the computer (not much different from a windows Norton imho).

 

[c.d.e]

The builtin Firewall can be used for one. The second is a second firewall like LittleSnitch but without the popups alerting you of the connections (just deny all non-web traffic). Lock down the usable programs too, like terminal, disk utility, etc. Also lock down booting from cd or usb drive or firewire drive through the open firmware. The last option is an anti-virus , like norton or mcaffe, which scans for pc viruses.

 

[KaosDG]

Aside from norton / mcaffee you can try ClamAV, there is also a simple mac gui for it.

The only drawback is that it doesn't have a "resident" component (no on-access scans, only user initiated)
It's free, and decent.

but like the previous poster said, you need to lock down the systems as well.
Just to prevent a malicious / uneducated user from doing something to mess everything up

Also what's your perimeter security like?
In any environment i'd suggest a good hardware firewall and a good border security appliance (software or hardware) in addition to client-side software

 

[Phelptwan]

Perimeter security? As in how is incoming traffic filtered? It's not really. The entire university is firewalled on incoming connections, but other than that no real security.

Forgot to add, there are various ports mapped to various computers for remote connections and such.

 

[KaosDG]

Perimeter security? As in how is incoming traffic filtered? It's not really. The entire university is firewalled on incoming connections, but other than that no real security.

Forgot to add, there are various ports mapped to various computers for remote connections and such.

Holy moly that must be a headache!