Just stumbled across a security guide for Mac OS X (Panther) published by none less than the National Security Agency of the United States (of America) - or more specifically, its Systems and Network Attack Center (flashy name, eh?).

While the 109 page document (only read it till page 30 myself, so far) does contain a lot of filler material such as many many variations of "Some instructions within this guidance are complex, and deviation could result in serious adverse effects on the system and its security. Modification of these instructions should only be performed by experienced Mac OS X administrators, and followed by thorough testing." and an unusual amount of "This Page Intentionally Left Blank" all in all I must say, that it's a rather sound collection of very sensible advice (including the following gem on the topic of what to include or not in a custom install of the system:

Internet Explorer - No. Internet Explorer (IE) for the Mac OS is no longer being developed, and while support is available now, future security updates are not guaranteed and may not be timely. If IE is operationally required, caution should be used. It is recommended that IE not be used."

I'm filing this in my "must read while offline" section for my next train ride or so ;-)

via MacOSX Hints