About the Authors

Charles S. Edge Jr. is the Director of Technology at 318, which is based in Santa Monica, California, and is the largest Mac consultancy in the United States. At 318, Charles leads a team of more than 40 engineers and has worked with network architecture, security, and storage for various vertical and horizontal markets. Charles maintains the 318 corporate blog at 318.com/techjournal as well as a personal site at krypted.com.

Charles is the author of a number of titles on Mac OS X Server and systems administration topics, including three titles from Apress for Mac OS X 10.6. He has spoken at a variety of conferences including DefCon, Black Hat, LinuxWorld, Macworld, MacSysAdmin, and the Apple WorldWide Developers Conference. Charles is the developer of the SANS course on Mac OS X Security and coauthor of its best practices guide to securing Mac OS X as well. Charles now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife, Lisa, and sweet little daughter, Emerald.

Beau Hunter has worked professionally with Apple technologies since 1999 and has supported businesses running the Mac OS for more than 10 years. Throughout this time, he has developed a strong skill set supporting and securing Apple OS X Server in multiple capacities: clustered web and database solutions, cross-platform integration, high-performance SANs, high-capacity backup systems, automation, and cross-platform mass deployment and integration.

Beau has spoken at numerous events, including Macworld 2009, and has been confirmed to speak at Macworld 2010. In his free time he can be found writing Python and PHP, playing PC games, and rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. In November 2009, Beau and his wife, Monica, will be returning to their true home— Seattle, Washington.

Zack Smith has worked as an IT consultant his entire adult life. He has consulted for insurance companies, entertainment companies, medical organizations, and governmental agencies. Zack is an Apple Certified Trainer and as such has taught Apple's Security Best Practices and many other Apple Certified System Administrator–level classes, such Mac OS X Deployment and Mac OS X Directory Services, at Apple and various market centers in Boston, Virginia, Los Angeles, and Cupertino. Zack has spoken at Macworld San Francisco and at smaller venues as well, such as IT user groups. Zack is the author of a set of open source IT administration software and scripts and has long-term plans to be a full-time Objective-C developer. When not attending IT and security conferences or traveling for work at 318, Zack can be found in Portland, Oregon, with his partner in crime, Anna, and dog, Watson.