What about mac security! anything a beginner should know?

well im a beginner at working with mac osx and was a long time windows user and was wondering how the security works in mac osx.should i install any antivirus? is there any? and how about firewalls? cause the one included in the osx 10.5.2 doesnt have all the advance rule management system like those we have for unix and windows.
what i trying to say is that where can i find more info on osx security and latest threats and stuff?
thanks alot for any help

Read this:
Do You Need Anti-Virus Protection for Your Mac?
According to Rich Mogull's article, Should Mac Users Run Antivirus Software?,
"The reality is that today the Mac platform is relatively safe. There are hundreds of thousands of viruses and other malicious software programs floating around for Windows, but less than 200 are known to target the Mac, and many of those are aimed at versions of the Mac OS prior to Mac OS X (and thus have no effect on a modern Mac).
It's not that Mac OS X is inherently more secure against viruses than current versions of Windows (although it was clearly more secure than Windows prior to XP SP2); the numerous vulnerabilities reported and patched in recent years are just as exploitable as their Windows equivalents. But most security experts agree that malicious software these days is driven by financial incentives, and it's far more profitable to target the most dominant platform."
Mr. Mogull is a computer security expert. I recommend reading the entire article as it is quite informative.
For additional information on viruses, trojans, and spyware visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on viruses and spyware.
As for firewalls if you are behind a hardware router in your home there should be no need for a firewall unless you open your machine to the world via web sharing, ftp access, etc. The OS X firewall is pretty configurable, but if you want more you can find it at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

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