Defend your data against prying eyes with these security-software packages.
Howard Bornstein
Whether you drive a beat-up Buick or a brand-new Mercedes-Benz, chances are you never leave your car without locking all the doors. And you probably don't go to bed at night before securing your home against intruders. So why do you leave your data unprotected?
No one knows how many kids accidentally erase their parents' hard disk each year or how many employees rifle through their coworkers files, but incidents such as these do occur. These days, you don't have to work for the CIA to consider protecting your files with security software. That's why we've tested, rated, and reviewed 18 security-software packages that let you lock your personal files and keep your confidential data under wraps.
To ensure you're getting real protection and not just smoke-screen security, we evaluated each package based on its features, ease of use, stability, and price. We know that home users don't have the same security needs as managers of high-school computer labs, so we divided the products into categories based on user profiles. Although we do rate all the packages, we've opted to save you time by elaborating on only the best -- and the worst -- products. For details on all the products, check out the "Security Software Scrutinized" table. Read on to find out which type of protection you should be using.
The Locks That Mac Built
Originally billed as the model of simplicity, the Mac was never designed for CIA-level security needs. In an attempt to make computing personal, the Mac's designers made file and folder access easy, not hard. But although the Mac doesn't exactly come surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, it does offer minimal security options.
System 7.5's General Controls control panel lets you lock the System Folder and a special Applications folder, which you create when you turn locking on. Items in the protected folders can't be moved, deleted, or renamed. Alternatively, you can lock files and folders in the Finder by selecting them, choosing Get Info from the File menu, and checking the Locked check box. Locking a file prevents it from being renamed, changed, or accidentally thrown away. But both these safeguards protect you from accidents rather than intentional action. Anyone out of diapers can bypass these security measures simply by turning locking off.
A third security option provided by the Mac OS is file sharing. Although designed mainly for network use, file sharing can be used to set access privileges for private folders. But be aware that this doesn't protect their contents -- just the folders themselves. Anyone can read or make changes in your files; they just won't be able to delete or move a folder or change its name.
The safeguards built into the Mac OS are designed to protect you from yourself. If, however, you're more worried about what damage other people can do to your system -- accidentally or otherwise -- then you need a security program.
Security Starts at Home
It was an ordinary home, in an ordinary city. Who would imagine that disaster was about to strike? When six-year-old Sheila clicked on Erase in the Erase Disk dialog box, how was she to know that she was deleting your first novel and two years' worth of financial data you'd never gotten around to backing up? You can prevent such crises by kidproofing your Mac, much as you do electrical outlets and kitchen cabinets.
The best way to prevent your kids from accidentally erasing data is never to leave them alone with the Macintosh. But what if you need to step away for a few minutes? Try using After Dark, the ubiquitous screen saver from Berkeley Systems. After Dark comes with a security option that can lock your screen after a user-determined period of nonuse or, if you press a hot key, immediately. Once you've locked your screen, you need a password to get back into your system. No password -- no access. Your curious kid can pound away on the keyboard without wiping out your data.
This is sufficient protection against a four-year-old, but anyone with a little bit of Mac savvy can get past this trick merely by restarting the Mac from a floppy disk or by turning off the extensions at startup. If you have older children, neighbors, or even a spouse using your computer, you may want to make your defense system harder to bypass. You'll probably also want more control over exactly what items you lock up. If that's the case, take a look at Berkeley Systems' Launch Pad Kid-Safe DESKTOP or Apple's At Ease, which is distributed by Claris.
Launch Pad replaces the Finder with gamelike work environments you can customize for each child who uses the computer. Children can explore several animated worlds and run only the programs and documents you've preselected. Meanwhile, the rest of your data and applications stay completely hidden and protected.
Unlike with After Dark, users can't sneak around the security measures Launch Pad puts up just by turning off the extensions at startup. However, they can disable the security features by booting from a floppy. At Ease, on the other hand, doesn't let users bypass its security by using either of these methods.
Like Launch Pad, At Ease provides an alternative to the Finder. A simple tabbed-card interface that has large buttons for applications and documents allows users to access a restricted work area. However, if you prefer the traditional Mac look, you can opt to forgo the At Ease interface when you set up user passwords and access levels and still get the same protection. One time-consuming drawback of At Ease is that the Mac needs to be restarted with every new user.
The School of Hard Knocks
Imagine yourself as the harried manager of a high-school computer lab. You're responsible for the upkeep of about 25 high-traffic computers. New students log on every time the bell rings, and you need to keep the machines running. To eliminate job stress, you need a security program that will stop kids from deleting files and programs and mucking around with the contents of the hard disk.
FoolProof Security, from SmartStuff Software, is perfect for reining in unruly students. For example, you can customize FoolProof so that students are forced to save their files onto floppies, thus keeping the hard disk free of clutter. If you're afraid students will use their floppy access to turn the lab into a game room or load programs that may contain viruses, you can set up FoolProof so it won't allow applications to run from floppies.
Another feature of FoolProof lets you create a folder that students can dip into to run applications without allowing them to delete, copy, or move any of the folder's contents. You can also regulate desktop decor by restricting access to various Finder menu items such as those that let you make aliases or create new folders.
If merely locking folders won't do the trick, you might try DiskGuard, from ASD Software. DiskGuard requires users to log in with a password, which allows for two levels of access: one administrator (that's you), who calls all the shots, and a large number of guests. You have control over what files and folders users are allowed to access once they log onto the computer.
DiskGuard works on a variety of media, which is handy in these days of rapidly changing storage standards. Most security software works only with the hard disks of SCSI drives, but DiskGuard is also compatible with disks in the new IDE drives and removable cartridges such as Bernoulli, SyQuest, and Iomega's Zip cartridges. And -- unique to DiskGuard -- you can password-protect a floppy disk if you want to keep your data both mobile and private.
Another program designed with shared-Mac environments in mind is ELS' Mac Manager, a program that stands out thanks to its colorful Copland-style Finder windows. Users can customize their windows with a variety of styles, colors, fonts, and icon sizes. But the program is far from being all style and no substance.
Aside from providing standard features such as password protection and centralized control over access to the System Folder, the Apple menu, and applications, the program sports several special features. For example, many school labs, underfunded and overused, have students waiting in line to use the machines. Mac Manager assists with crowd control by letting you set limits on how much time each user has on the computer. To cut back on paper costs, users can also be restricted in the number of pages they can print out. And Mac Manager lets lab administrators restrict students' ability to open applications from a floppy or save files onto one. In addition, the program can be configured to reject attempts to insert disks or eject otherwise easy-to-steal CD-ROMs.
We far prefer Mac Manager to BDW Software's Mac Control. Mac Control offers many of the same features as Mac Manager but without the pizzazz. And even more damaging, Mac Control's awkwardly designed interface makes it much harder to use than necessary.
One product we didn't test, Apple's recently updated At Ease for Workgroups 3.01 ($225), big brother to At Ease, provides simple but efficient multiuser security. Easy to use for administrators and students, this classroom edition of Apple's home security program provides centralized control over file, folder, hard-disk, and control-panel access while supporting up to 4,000 users (see Quick Clicks, January '96, page 68).
Social Security
You are the president of a Fortune 500 corporation. Breached confidentiality can mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars or maybe even a lawsuit. So you're feeling insecure about your security.
You'll feel much more confident if you have a program such as ASD Software's FileGuard guarding your goods. FileGuard establishes three user levels: administrator, user, and guest. The administrator can adjust each level to dictate which programs and documents users can work with. The administrator also has the power to lock any combination of internal and external hard disks. For added security, a screen saver locks the system when the user is absent and a detailed activity log keeps tabs on any Peeping Toms. Unlike After Dark, this screen saver can't be bypassed by startup from a floppy disk.
Magna's Empower Professional, the multiuser version of Empower, and Symantec's Norton DiskLock for Macintosh, provide similar but less extensive, corporate-level features. (At press time, Symantec announced a new version of DiskLock with a large array of features that promise to rival those of FileGuard.) Some people, however, may prefer DiskLock for its relatively lower price.
No matter how capably a program locks a folder, determined and experienced hackers may be able to break through. To be doubly safe, you should use encryption to scramble the contents of data files, so that even if intruders get to your files, they won't be able to read them. DiskLock, Empower Professional, and FileGuard provide encryption along with access control.
All three programs offer U.S. government standard DES encryption. The programs also provide proprietary encryption algorithms that are a little less secure than DES but that operate much faster. If you've ever spent time twiddling your thumbs while encrypting or decrypting a file, you'll appreciate the time savings.
However, if your company is less worried about hackers and more concerned about the flood of consultants and temps constantly logging onto the system, you may want to consider NightWatch II, from Kent Marsh. NightWatch II allows you to restrict not only which files a user can work with but also when. For example, if you don't want consultants using the computer after 5 p.m. or on the weekend, it's easy to set up NightWatch II with these limits. Although NightWatch II works with many removable cartridges, we could not get it to run with cartridges for the SyQuest EZ135 drive.
It's inevitable that someone will forget the password the same day as the system administrator is sick. NightWatch II keeps you from losing a full day's work by using a key-disk scheme. A key disk acts like the master key to a building: Inserting it can unlock any computer you've protected with NightWatch II. However, if this key disk winds up in the wrong hands, you can have a security gap the size of the Grand Canyon.
You can minimize the security risks by requiring guests to log in with token disks. Using a token disk with NightWatch II is like using your ATM card at the bank -- you need both the disk and your password in order to make it work. Even if conniving coworkers discover your password, they won't get anywhere without the disk. As with a key disk, it's important to keep token disks well hidden.
Security for the Rest of Us
You're not the CEO of a large company, you don't manage a bustling high-school computer lab, and you may not even have kids of your own. You're just an average user, with average needs. And yet you'd like at least enough privacy to keep your boyfriend from delving into the intimate details of your diary. You want something simple, something like the ability to lock one drawer of a file cabinet.
SmartStuff Software's UnderCover File Security lets you create a file box that appears as a separate desktop volume. You can keep anything in the file box -- applications, documents, folders. You lock and unlock the box by using a password-protected DA. When you lock the file box, it's made invisible until you unlock it. Since UnderCover works below the Mac's filing system, programs such as Apple's ResEdit can't make the box contents visible again. You can also create a drop box that lets you put items into the file box without unlocking it. If you're paranoid about your boyfriend finding out where you really were last night, you can even encrypt file-box items.
FolderBolt Pro, from Kent Marsh, also provides simple single-user protection by allowing you to "bolt" folders and encrypt files. Although we liked FolderBolt Pro's simple design and smart features, we had more crashes and stability problems with FolderBolt Pro than with any of the other security products we tested.
More reliable but with far fewer features is Software Brewing's Folder Locker, which uses password protection to keep folders private. Folder Locker's manual is woefully skimpy, however. The documentation contains few descriptions of the program's security features beyond instructions on how to lock and unlock a folder.
The X-Files
It's a worst-case scenario. You're working on a top-secret project. The last thing you want is for Scully and Mulder to access your files.
For the ultimate in personal-computer security, try ultraSECURE, a feature-rich access-control and encryption package from usrEZ. ultraSECURE lets you restrict access to everything on your Mac -- hard and floppy disks, files, folders, applications, DAs, the System Folder, and the desktop. The program offers over a dozen variations for assigning, varying, and otherwise managing passwords to lessen the dangers of password theft. But keep a tight grip on the included key disk, for those situations when a password is lost or forgotten.
ultraSECURE provides two official-looking warnings you can use to scare off would-be intruders. If the scare tactics fail to deter them, ultraSECURE can generate audio warnings and time-out pauses when incorrect passwords are attempted. You can change the message and the audio level of these warnings as well as the number of times they will go off before ultraSECURE freezes your keyboard and shuts down your computer. For complete security, ultraSECURE offers DES encryption as well as Triple DES encryption.
To ensure that deleted documents are truly trashed, ultraSECURE performs a secure erase when you empty the Trash. The program writes a pattern of 0s and 1s over the actual data instead of simply erasing the pointer to the data -- the way the Mac OS normally empties the Trash. (True security hounds will be pleased to know that they can select how many times the data is overwritten, for extra protection.) Files that aren't securely erased, even if they are encrypted, can be retrieved by utilities such as Norton Disk Doctor.
The Final Assignment
With such a wide selection of personal security software on the market, there's no reason to lose files -- accidentally or otherwise. Berkeley Systems' Launch Pad Kid-Safe DESKTOP is perfect for families wanting to rope off a section of their Mac just for the kids. Simple to use and charming to look at, Launch Pad puts kids into their own worlds, complete with animations, sounds, and games to explore.
For individual users just looking for a little privacy, SmartStuff's UnderCover File Security provides simple but adequate security at a reasonable price. UnderCover doesn't kid around with PlaySkool interfaces or hassle you with high-tech security safeguards -- it just provides a simple way to keep things private.
For multiuser situations, the choice is more difficult. Although we liked SmartStuff Software's FoolProof Security for its solid security and low price, we found other capable products too. If you're looking to control people flow as well as information access, you can set time limits on your Mac and restrict printing options with Mac Manager. Or, for those who need portable protection, ASD Software's DiskGuard can password-protect floppy disks.
However, if you're in charge of sensitive information and high-tech security is what you need in order to sleep comfortably at night, you'll want to check out usrEZ's ultraSECURE. Ideal for large companies with multiuser computers, ultraSECURE comes with every feature imaginable, including several levels of encryption and compatibility with a wide variety of disks and files.
Howard Bornstein is a free-lance author.
The Bottom Line
KEEPING A SECRET CAN BE TOUGH, especially when other people have access to your computer files. Fortunately, a slew of personal security packages will help you keep your skeletons hiding safely in their closets. We've based our ratings on each product's ability to reliably serve its users through ease of use, features, and affordability.
Rating product price ease of use features
Very Good/Outstanding ultraSECURE 3.541 Acceptable Outstanding Outstanding
ultraSECURE (list price, $239; estimated street price, $165)
will have corporate security buffs drooling over its endless
array of features. High-speed encryption and decryption save you
time but not money. Not for the average home user, this high-end
security package will cost you a high price.
Very Good/Outstanding UnderCover Outstanding Outstanding Acceptable
File Security 1.0
UnderCover File Security ($59 direct) provides a simple,
secure way for you to protect your hard disk's contents.
Easy-to-use features include encryption and invisible, locked
file boxes. Best of all, you don't have to log on every time you
want to access your hard disk.
Very Good FileGuard 3.0 Acceptable Outstanding Outstanding
Very Good FoolProof Security 2.5 Outstanding Outstanding Acceptable
Very Good Launch Pad Kid-Safe Outstanding Outstanding Acceptable
DESKTOP 1.0
Very Good Mac Manager 3.0 Outstanding Outstanding Acceptable
Acceptable/Very Good At Ease 3.0 Acceptable Outstanding Acceptable
Acceptable/Very Good cypherPAD 1.215 Outstanding Acceptable Acceptable
Acceptable/Very Good DiskGuard 1.5 Acceptable Outstanding Acceptable
Acceptable/Very Good NightWatch II 2.6 Acceptable Outstanding Acceptable
Acceptable/Very Good Norton DiskLock for Acceptable Acceptable Outstanding
Macintosh 4.0
Acceptable/Very Good ultraSHIELD 2.541 Acceptable Acceptable Outstanding
Poor/Acceptable FolderBolt Pro 1.03 Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable
Poor/Acceptable Mac Control 2.1 Acceptable Poor Acceptable
Poor After Dark 3.0 Acceptable Outstanding Poor
Listing is alphabetical within groups of equal mouse ratings.
The Security Risk
crashproofing your Mac
SECURITY PROGRAMS ARE NOT RISK-FREE. Security software protects your system by patching the Mac OS and disk drivers or by writing special data structures to your disk. With the software working at such a low level with so many combinations of Mac OS versions and disks, it's not unusual to experience crashes or other strange behavior once you've installed security software. Here are our tips for making your Mac crashproof:
Back up your data
The best tip we can offer is this simple one: Back up all your data to an unprotected disk before installing any security software. And don't erase the backup until you're sure your new software works reliably.
Check your disk
If there are problems with your disk's structure, installing security software can cause you to irrevocably lose data. Minimize this danger by giving your hard disk a checkup with a program such as Apple's Disk First Aid before you install security software. Disk First Aid comes with every Mac as part of its system software, so you should already have it on hand.
Be aware of incompatibilities
Many security packages work by modifying or replacing the disk driver -- the software that controls the physical reading of data from the disk and the writing of data to it. This makes most security packages incompatible with driver-level compression programs such as Stac Electronics' Stacker. However, file-level-compression programs such as Symantec's AutoDoubler and Now Utilities' Now Compress work with most security software.
Know when to let down your defenses
If you update your disk driver, optimize your hard disk, or troubleshoot your disk with a disk-repair utility such as Norton Utilities' Disk Doctor, you'll need to temporarily remove your software protection. Otherwise, you may suffer system crashes and file losses.
Clean up your mess
If you stop using a security program, use its installer to remove the program from your disk. In many cases, simply dragging the program to the Trash won't remove the special data structures such a program places on your hard disk. If you're not careful, they may come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
Make sure the product comes with a money-back guarantee
Even if you take all these precautions, you may still experience instabilities the vendor's tech-support personnel can't resolve. In that case, we recommend returning the product and trying another. All the products we reviewed come with a money-back guarantee.
Security Software Scrutinized
finding the features you need the most
Company List price Estimated Disk Folder File System Floppy Desktop Access-time Application Screen Drop Key Secure Encryption Toll-free Comments
street price control control control control control control control control lock box disk erase tech support
After Dark 3.0 Berkeley Systems $29.99 $29.99 Y A screen saver with easy-to-bypass password protection that locks your screen.
At Ease 3.0 Claris $49.00 NA Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Lets you choose among three interfaces based on the user's age and experience.
cypherPAD 1.215 usrEZ Software $49.00 $35.00 Y Y Y Effective password protection, but on-screen sign-on pad is annoying.
DiskGuard 1.5 ASD Software $129.00 $75.00 Y Y Y* Y Y Password-protects floppy disks for security on the go.
Empower 5.03 Magna $129.00 $89.98 Y Y Y Standard access-control features. Graphical interface.
Empower Professional 5.03 Magna $219.00 $149.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y Allows you to save personal configuration file you can use to restore privileges and passwords.
FileGuard 3.0 ASD Software $249.00 $139.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Three user levels allow for tight control of a wide array of security options.
Folder Locker 1.3 Software Brewing $30.00 NA Y Y* Y* Y* Y Offers a clever approach but a crude interface. Minimal documentation.
FolderBolt Pro 1.03 Kent Marsh $159.95 $85.00 Y Y* Y* Y* Y Y Y Y Easy to use, with such handy features as password encryption, but lacks stability.
FoolProof Security 2.5 SmartStuff Software $59.00 $39.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y With a secret key combination, you can bypass all security for one minute.
Launch Pad Kid-Safe DESKTOP 1.0 Berkeley Systems $29.99 $29.99 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Kid-style interface comes with games.
Mac Control 2.1 BDW Software $59.00 NA Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y The dense interface may intimidate home users.
Mac Manager 3.0 ELS $79.00 $59.98 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Copland-style interface. Limits number of printouts, log-on time, and disk space per user.
NightWatch II 2.6 Kent Marsh $129.95 $75.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y Can restrict user access to specific times and days.
Norton DiskLock for Macintosh 4.0 Symantec $129.00 $89.00 Y Y Y Y* Y Y Drag-and-drop encryption/decryption makes security easy.
(+) ultraSECURE 3.541 usrEZ Software $239.00 $165.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Feature-rich, with tamper protection.
ultraSHIELD 2.541 usrEZ Software $149.00 $99.00 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Antivirus self-check wards off bugs.
(+) UnderCover File Security 1.0 SmartStuff Software $59.00 NA Y+ Y+ Y+ Y Y Y Creates hidden file boxes that can hold any kind of file. Has auto-encrypt option.
(+) MacUser BEST BUY
* Access can be controlled if the item is placed in a locked folder.
+ Access can be controlled if the item is placed in a file box.
