18Mar
How reliable is the onboard firewall on Mac?
I was looking through my Mac’s security settings when I came a across the option to turn on Mac’s built-in firewall, which Apple claims will do the following:
- Block all incoming connections, regardless of app.
- Automatically allow built-in software to receive incoming connections.
- Automatically allow downloaded and signed software to receive incoming connections.
- Add or deny access based on user-specified apps.
- Prevent the Mac from responding to ICMP, probing and portscan requests
From the Apple website
Using little snitch I was able to see that the firewall seemingly had opened new connections to Apple servers in the United States.
How reliable/effective is this firewall for packet filtering and as a proxy firewall? Could this act as a replacement for a paid firewall?
