As of OS X 10.8 "gatekeeper" security mechanism will be introduced. When activated, it will only run applications that come from certified developers. To fully support this mechanism, a signature of the applications was introduced.
Description:
Mac OS X 10.8 and newer
With 4.4.2 censhare will introduce certificate signed client applications for Mac OS X. Although the gatekeeper is present since OS X 10.7 (Lion), it could only be activated via the command line. Thus, this mechanism has been hardly ever used.
In Mac OS X 10.8, which at this stage only runs as a beta version, the gatekeeper is configured in "System Preferences -> Security". Here you can select the following options:
Mac App Store
Mac App Store and certain developers
Anywhere
Preferences for Gatekeeper
censhare AG belongs to the group of certified developers who are registered with Apple and own a certificate. When building the application this certificate needs to be installed in advance. This process will ensure that users will not inadvertently run malicious software. Manufacturers of malicious software generally never register at Apple.
This mechanism only works if you load an application from the Internet (Browser, FTP etc.). If an application does not meet the configured requirement or the application is not digitally signed at all you will receive an error message:
Error message
The signing was introduced for all current clients and is now available for 4.4.2; 4.3.7; 4.2.14; 4.1.10 and 3.4.24
Example:
The gatekeeper is a reliable tool to ensure that users in corporate networks only install "safe" software.
Configuration:
There is no special configuration required.
Note: For Lion you can set the same preferences for the gatekeeper in the Terminal utility. This option did not exist for Snow Leopard. For this purpose, enter the command:
sudo spctl --enable
Using the command
spctl --status
will return the current status. It should respond assessments enabled.
Running the command:
sudo spctl --disable
will disable the setting. The command spctl --status will then display: assessments disabled.
Apple Support page
For more information, see this OS X: About Gatekeeper