Lock Down Your Mac with DoorStop X

When it comes to security, Mac OS X has proved on numerous occasions that it is quite safe, right out of the box. However, that doesn’t mean it cannot use additional security to prepare it for the Wild West we call the Internet. Enter DoorStop X – a comprehensive approach to securing your Mac.

DoorStop X includes a free eBook with security-related information. The material aims to educate new users about a variety of topics including: viruses, SSH, wireless networking, managing passwords, and much more. Although each chapter opens as a separate HTML file which is not very user-friendly for browsing, it still is a handy resource which targets the users of this tool and enables them to learn more while protecting their machine.

Installation

When you start DoorStop X for the first time, an assistant will configure it based on your answers to a few questions.

Since the purpose of the program is to protect the services that are running on your Mac from outside access, you can choose at the very beginning to block access to all your services or to allow some of them. It’s worth noting that if you decide to block all services, you won’t be able to share your files or access this machine remotely.

Let’s assume you do want to allow access to some of your services from any machine on the Internet. The setup assistant will give you a list of services built in Mac OS X to start with.

As with any security software, logging is very important. It makes sure you can look into the past to see what’s been going on. It’s only natural that I recommend you to enable logging during setup.

Ready to go!

The main interface of the program is very intuitive and easy to work with. Here you can choose which services to protect and how to protect them.

Once you click on a service, DoorStop X provides you more information about it as well as the possibility to change the associated ports.

In addition to modifying existing services you are also able to add new services as the need arises.

Final words

DoorStop X will effectively fortify your Mac and give you a clear overview of the services that are open in a easy to browse GUI. It is a polished piece of software that is worth a try, the retail price is $79. Keep in mind that in order to use it, you’ll need Mac OS X 10.3.9. or later.