Gatekeeper (OS X)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
 Gatekeeper under OS X Mountain Lion |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Preview release | 1.0 (11D1069) / February 16, 2012 |
| Operating system | OS X |
Gatekeeper[1][2] is an anti-malware feature[3][4] of the Mac OS X operating system. It is included with OS X Mountain Lion and (as of 10.7.5[5]) Mac OS X Lion. Gatekeeper allows users to restrict which sources they can install applications from, in order to reduce the likelihood of inadvertently executing a Trojan horse.
[edit] Features
Users have three options to restrict the launching of applications:[6]
-
- Mac App Store
- Allows only applications downloaded from the Mac App Store to be launched.
- Mac App Store and identified developers
- Allows applications downloaded from the Mac App Store and applications signed by certified Apple developers to be launched. This is the default setting in Mountain Lion.
- Anywhere
- Allows all applications to be launched.
Gatekeeper can also be activated on Lion as of OS X 10.7.3 via the command line utility spctl.[7][8] The feature is similar to File Quarantine, which was introduced in Mac OS X Leopard.
[edit] References
- ^ "Gatekeeper keeps your Mac even safer.". OS X Mountain Lion. Apple Inc. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ Siegler, MG (February 16, 2012). "Surprise! OS X Mountain Lion Roars Into Existence (For Developers Today, Everyone This Summer)". TechCrunch (AOL Inc.). Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ Chatterjee, Surojit (February 21, 2012). "OS X Mountain Lion Gatekeeper: Can it Really Keep Malware Out?". International Business Times. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ Snell, Jason (February 16, 2012). "Mountain Lion: Hands on with Gatekeeper". Macworld. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ "About the OS X Lion v10.7.5 Update". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
- ^ Mogull, Rich (February 16, 2012). "Gatekeeper Slams the Door on Mac Malware Epidemics". TidBITS. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
- ^ Johannes Ullrich (2012-02-22). "How to test OS X Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper in Lion". Internet Storm Center. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
- ^ "spctl(8) OS X Manual Page". Mac Developer Library. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
