Re: FIREWALL- worth the effort ?

In article
<1151341960.214123.108150@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
erniemac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I often wonder if trying to prevent access through internet actually
works. We hear of so called secure commercial sites being "busted", so
why should we think that any firewall we use might is useful ?

Personally, I only use internet intermitently and "pull the plug out"
tthe rest of the time. When on internet, I use Activity Monitor to
check undesirable net input,

Thanks, Ernie Lee

It depends.

Do you have a home Cable/DSL Router? If you do, and you do not
forward any ports from the outside world to your Mac(s) through
the router, then the router is effectively blocking all probes
from the internet to your home systems.

If you connect directly from your Mac(s) to a Cable or DSL modem
(where your broadband provided has not actually provided a combo
modem/router), or you use a dialup internet connection, then a lot
depends on what ports you have open in your Sharing system
preferences.

You could try something like ShieldsUP
<https://www.grc.com/>
or similar service to see what ports are open on your system. But
even with this you have to actually look at the report carefully
as even if you have some ports open, they may or may not be a
security hole on the Mac.

The other function of a firewall is to prevent out bound
connections on specific ports. Companies often times use this to
keep the employees from uses specific services or forcing them to
use specific proxy servers where they can track and monitor all
connections (or at least the unencrypted ones). Home users
generally do not care about this. But if you are worried about
"Phone Home" apps, then Little Snitch is often recommended.

Personally, I use a home router, and do not enable the Apple
firewall.

Bob Harris
.

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