Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X, Second Edition
Maximize your security and minimize your hassle while creating and managing Macintosh and Web passwords!
Suffering from password overload or anxiety? Set your mind at ease with friendly assistance from Mac expert Joe Kissell! You'll learn how to match your personality type and risk factors to a personal plan for choosing and managing your Mac, Web, and iPhone/iPad/iPod touch passwords efficiently and securely. You'll also learn how to handle:
- Passwords on your Mac (login, master, root, firmware, email, AirPort, keychains)
- Interactions between your Web browser and your stored passwords
- Syncing passwords between Macs, and with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Use Apple's Keychain Access password manager
- Getting started with a third-party password manager
- Planning for what to do if your software (or your brain) forgets key passwords
- Solving password-related problems
Save 20% on 1Password, Joe's favorite password management utility!
- More Info
- Contents & Intro
- What’s New
- FAQ
- Blog
"Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X is outstanding. It's very thoughtful and well presented. I've spent more time than the average person thinking about this topic, and still I learned some things from your book." —James Tummins
Read this ebook for advice on these password-related issues:
- Coming up with secure passwords that are easily remembered and typed
- Keeping track of impossible-to-remember passwords
- Setting up sensible passwords that control access to your Mac
- Reducing hassle by making your Mac automatically log you in to Web sites
- Balancing security with the annoyance of frequent password entry
- Understanding the purpose of the common Mac keychains
- Finding and viewing the passwords that your Mac has tracked for you
- Syncing passwords between different Macs (or with an iPhone/iPad/iPod touch)
- Planning for disaster—what if you're injured and someone else needs your passwords?
- Deciding whether you should memorize your passwords, write them down, or have your Mac store them
Book Info
- 121 pages
- Version 2.1
- Updated Oct 21, 2010
- 1.2 MB download
- ISBN: 9781933671673
- Free sample with Table of Contents, Intro, Quick Start, and section starts.
iPad & Kindle
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About the Author
 Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS and a Senior Contributor to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.
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Book Reviews
Author Interviews
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Table of Contents
- Read Me First
- Introduction
- Passwords Quick Start
- Assess Your Password Needs
- Learn Password Basics
- Choose a Password Strategy
- Generate Good Passwords
- Understand Mac OS X’s Passwords
- Use Keychain Access
- Use Passwords on the Web
- Use Third-Party Password Tools
- Keep Your Passwords Secure
- About This Book
- Copyright and Fine Print
- Featured Titles
- 1Password Coupon
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Read Me First
If you’re overwhelmed with too many passwords to remember or concerned that your passwords may not be safe, help is on the way. This book tells you everything you need to know about choosing, remembering, and managing passwords of all kinds—with special attention to those used when accessing Web sites with a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Caroline Rose, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.
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Introduction
I have a love-hate relationship with passwords. Well, mostly hate. I understand that passwords help keep my computer, my private data, and my money safe, but for many years, every time I was asked to come up with yet another password (for a Web site, a Mac OS X user account, or any of a dozen other purposes), I’d grumble. I felt, as many people do, that it took too much mental effort to produce and remember all those passwords.
On the other hand, I didn’t want to take the easy way out—choosing a simple, memorable password and using it everywhere—because I worried that I was putting my valuable information at risk. I didn’t want to sacrifice security for convenience.
In addition, I lacked a clear understanding of how to go about selecting good passwords, and I was unsure what the security implications were for each of the contexts in which passwords are required. For example, Mac OS X requires passwords for a bewildering array of purposes: logging in, securing a computer’s firmware, encrypting home folders, checking email, connecting to MobileMe, and more. What are all those passwords for? Do I need to use them all? What sorts of passwords can I use in which places? Even computer geeks like me wonder about these things.
I decided to get to the bottom of this whole password business once and for all. This book is the result of my research and experiments. In it, I show you how to choose good passwords without overtaxing your brain. I explain when you need heavy-duty passwords and when you can get away with less secure ones. I cover all the kinds of passwords an average Mac OS X user will encounter, and describe how and when to use them. And I discuss a variety of tools and methods you can use to simplify your interactions with passwords. In short, this book enables you to take control of your passwords once and for all!
To keep this book from being unreasonably long, I’ve made some assumptions:
I’m writing for ordinary computer users, not technical wizards or security experts. If you’re looking for detailed information on encryption algorithms or the like, this isn’t the place.
Along the same lines, I assume that you’re not protecting state secrets or billion-dollar fortunes with your passwords. For that sort of security, you’ll need more password mojo than I offer here.
Also, I only skim over certain topics related to passwords, such as user accounts, wireless networks, keychain synchronization, and file sharing. For more information on these topics, I refer you to other Take Control titles.
For this edition of Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X, I’ve taken a long look at what has happened since the book’s original publication in 2006. I’ve significantly modified my thinking on a few topics, adopted some new techniques, and begun to use hardware and software products that weren’t available when I wrote the first edition. And I’ve watched Mac OS X evolve through a couple of major revisions, seen Apple complete its shift to Intel processors, and witnessed the birth and growth of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So I’ve updated the book with the latest in technology and my current advice.
This version of the book is written primarily for users of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Nearly all of this book also applies to 10.4 Tiger, with some minor differences in wording and the like, which I’ve called out in most cases. However, I no longer cover earlier versions of Mac OS X at all.
Passwords Quick Start
You can read this book in any order; I’ve included plenty of cross-references to help you find the information you need. However, I urge you to begin with Assess Your Password Needs and read at least up through Choose a Password Strategy, to get valuable background information that will help you understand everything else better. Beyond that, skip to whichever section addresses the issues you’re most concerned about.
- Gauge the level of password security you likely need by reading Assess Your Password Needs .
- Read Learn Password Basics to learn the fundamentals of password security, including the difference between passwords that truly protect something and those that merely identify you.
- Decide on the best overall approach to password management for your needs: read Choose a Password Strategy.
- Learn painless ways to create your own great passwords in Generate Good Passwords.
- In Understand Mac OS X’s Passwords, find out how to choose and use all the major kinds of passwords in Mac OS X, including login, firmware, and email passwords.
- Read Use Keychain Access to learn about a tool Apple includes with Mac OS X that lets you secure, repair, and optimize the keychains in which your passwords are stored.
- In Use Passwords on the Web, learn how to select, store, and fill in user names and passwords for Web sites.
- If the password programs included with Mac OS X provide too little oomph, turn to more-capable utilities from other developers. See Use Third-Party Password Tools.
- Read Keep Your Passwords Secure for tips on protecting your passwords from thieves and hackers.
What's New in Version 2.1
In this minor revision, I’ve updated the book to reflect the latest information about Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, iOS devices, 1Password, and other third-party products. Among the most significant changes are these:
- Revised the discussion of 1Password to reflect the latest version (3.x) at publication time, as well as current versions for iOS
- Updated the list of Desktop Password Managers with the latest facts, and added mention of the popular LastPass service/
software
- Corrected information in Biometric Devices about using UPEK’s Eikon fingerprint scanners with 1Password
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Update Plans
October 22, 2010 -- We like this ebook and generally intend to keep it up to date, but we don't have any particular near-term plans to update it.
—Adam Engst
January 23, 2012 --
In the November 2011 issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows shares the
story of how his wife’s Gmail account was hijacked and what they went
through to recover years of stored messages. It’s a compelling tale
that will hopefully bring home the need for secure passwords and
offline backups of cloud-based data.
—Michael E. Cohen
June 27, 2011 --
Apple has announced that iCloud, due to arrive this fall, will replace MobileMe. While iCloud will include many features currently in MobileMe, some of them did not make the cut. And among those is one mentioned in Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X: syncing keychains between Macs (covered on page 71 of version 2.1). According to a MobileMe to iCloud Transition page, you'll be able to continue syncing your keychains until you switch your MobileMe account to iCloud or until June 30, 2012, whichever comes first.
Because I recommend using 1Password—and syncing one's passwords amongst Macs, PCs, and iOS devices securely via Dropbox—this change need not cause any trauma. However, do keep in mind that some kinds of passwords (such as those Mac OS X stores automatically when you mount network volumes or disk images, or connect to wireless networks) are kept only in your keychain, so those will no longer sync automatically and may have to be re-entered by hand, once per device.
—Joe Kissell
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