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Technical Q&As
Mac OS X provides a number of system-level authorization, authentication, and cryptographic services that software and hardware developers can use to build security into their products. In addition, Mac OS X provides programming interfaces to SSL/TLS that developers can use to transport data securely over a network.

Security Resources
A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to implementing security features in Mac OS X.   Essential information for developers building security into their products.   Descriptions of the procedural C and Objective-C programming interface elements for working with security.
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Accessing HTTPS Proxy Settings (HTML) ()
QA1234: Describes how to programatically access Secure Web Proxy information.
Internet & Web 2003-02-19
Be careful when using AuthorizationCreate (HTML) ()
QA1172: Explains why you should avoid determining allowable rights when creating an AuthorizationRef.
Authorization 2002-09-20
Does Safari support 128-bit encryption? (HTML)
QA1320: Discusses support for 128-bit encryption in Apple's Safari web browser.
Internet & Web 2004-09-10
Enabling X11 Forwarding (HTML)
QA1383: Describes how to enable ssh clients to receive X11 communication from a Mac OS X system.
Darwin, Internet & Web, Mac OS X Server 2004-10-25
Getting a Packet Trace (HTML) ()
QA1176: Lists tools available for looking at the network packets on the wire.
Internet & Web, Networking 2004-07-13
Installing smart card reader drivers (HTML)
QA1359: Updates obsolete information contained in the pcscd(8) man page on Mac OS X Jaguar and Panther.
Hardware 2004-08-30
Mac OS X and root access (HTML)
QA1013: Describes how to enable root access in Mac OS X.
Darwin, Hardware 2001-03-13
Security Credentials (HTML) ()
QA1277: Discusses AuthorizationCopyRights and the relationship between Authorization Services, authorization sessions, Security Server, credentials, and the credentials cache.
Authorization 2003-08-06
Stay away from custom Authorization dialogs (HTML) ()
QA1199: Explains why you shouldn't create a custom authorization dialog.
Authorization 2002-09-20
What are snag keys in Open Firmware? (HTML) ()
HW35: Explains Open Firmware snag keys, including examples of their function.
Hardware, Mac OS X Server 1999-02-15
What numeric base is the default for the Open Firmware user interface? (HTML)
HW65: Describes how the default numeric base used by the Open Firmware user interface is hexadecimal.
Hardware 1999-10-11