How to configure the firewall in Mac OS X
In computer science the term ” firewall ” (flame arrester) is a passive component that can carry out functions of connection between two or more network sections, thus guaranteeing the security of the same.
Configuring a firewall may seem something difficult and of little importance, in reality, it is not so, indeed it is extremely important to avoid those dangers in which the user runs every day when surfing the net.
Like a good anti-virus, a good firewall could prevent the theft of personal data or credentials from your computer because a firewall allows you to monitor all incoming and outgoing connections from your computer. The same guide will explain how to configure it in a Mac OS X. Let’s start this guide.
Mac OS includes a technology called ” Firewall Application ” with the aim of controlling computer connections made by other computers on the network. To access and enable the system firewall settings within Mac OS X, first select the ” System Preferences ” item in the main menu, top left, where the icon with the Apple symbol appears.
Once you have selected the System Preferences item, you need to move to the ” Firewall ” item and click on the padlock at the bottom to enable the administrator permissions so that you can change the firewall settings. At this point, it will be possible to activate the firewall from the appropriate ” Start ” button.
Once this is done, some questions will be presented about the possibility of a specific application to be able to dialogue with the outside world and vice versa. If you want to allow that specific application, which the user deems appropriate to communicate with the outside world and with the Internet, you will need to click on the ” Allow ” button or, alternatively, on the ” Deny ” button.
A final step consists in being able, through the ” Advanced ” button, to customize some options such as those aimed at preventing all incoming connections to your computer, automatically allowing the trusted software to receive incoming connections (subject to authorization by the user himself) or enabling in stealth mode, which means not responding to test application attempts that send ICMP requests, to understand if your computer is active and reachable by a cyber attack against you.
