When it comes to the Mac, remember this: there’s always someone somewhere trying to get into your Mac to see what’s there. Most of those attempts are over the internet and your Mac is quite secure. What about the home or office? Do you know who tried to login to your Mac while you were gone?

Only The Paranoid Survive

Your Mac comes with plenty of built-in security features. Mac OS X’s UNIX-under-the-hood helps by segregating system files from user files. The Mac’s firewall can add more security.

Using a cryptic username and password login provides more security.

Need even more security for your home or office Mac? Try what I call an effective gimmick app for your Mac. LoginTrap is another level of security for the paranoid, and their friends, the near-paranoid who not only want to prevent access, but want to know who’s trying to break in.

If you think about it for a moment, there really isn’t much between our sacred Mac (or online) secrets and a thief trying to break in. Username. Password. Too often, both are easy to guess, particularly in a home or office environment.

Install LoginTrap and not only prevent users from trying different username and password attempts, but snap a photo of the perpetrator. It may seem gimmicky, but it’s a simple process.

ProteMac LoginTrap monitors all login attempts and detects whether an attempt was successful or failed. After a login attempt was made the program captures an image from the iSight camera, so that you are able to see who is trying to break into your Mac.

In other words, every attempt to login is monitored and tracked, whether successful or otherwise. And, your Mac’s iSight camera can be used to snap a photo of whomever is sitting in front of your Mac trying to break in.

There’s not much to not like about what LoginTrap does. How do you find out who’s been trying to break in?

LoginTrap will send you an email message with the details, including a photo from the iSight camera. Of course, if someone actually breaks into your Mac they could see the email warning message and delete it.

There’s a certain elegance to an app that performs such a security function. LoginTrap is easy to setup using the auto installer, though you’ll have to restart your Mac for it to work.

Something else: this is security software, so, like a bank goes to extremes to make itself seem and feel and look secure, LoginTrap’s web site needs a little more security polish before I give my seal of approval. Links on the LoginTrap page don’t work. Screenshots are not currently available (despite the link). A mousetrap is logo is cute but does not inspire trust.

How much trust can you give the developers if their web site is broken? Still, LoginTrap is an idea that merits a look and an extra layer of security never hurts.