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Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

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Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#61

Post by kstrauser »

ianmf wrote: post #20
danpalmer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s essential for every macOS user Is it? I'm interested in hearing why. I've been using macOS for ~15 years, so very familiar with Little Snitch. I think I owned a version many years ago but haven't for a long time. I don't really see what I'd use it for. I don't run dodgy software, I don't want to partially break the software I do run by nit picking what connections it can make as that wouldn't improve my experi…

I owned several versions of Little Snitch too. It started to be annoying when you had to approve each request, especially when running command-line scripts. Then I moved to run in silent-approval mode. At that point, there was no reason to have LS any longer, so I uninstalled it. Haven't used it in years now. But not to discredit LS, it is an amazing software when you need it.

LS is beyond annoying for the first couple of days on a new computer. "Do you want to connect to gmail.com on port 443? What about kagi.com on port 443? What about your employer on port 443? Mind if Weather.app checks the weather?" After a couple of days, I have blanket rules like "allow Safari to connect to any host :443, except for googleadservices.com because nah".

It quickly tapers down to alerting about rare new connections, which is when it becomes hugely useful. RandomTool.app normally connects to cloud.randomtool.xyz. Why is it suddenly asking to connect to exfiltrate.ru?

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#62

Post by kstrauser »

saagarjha wrote: post #38
SanjayMehta wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best feature is the map which shows the locations of all the connection attempts. You can quickly spot anomalous connections to countries/servers, and locate the specific process doing this. I found a daemon left over from an uninstalled app which was attempting to connect to its mother ship in China. Very strange.

I mean renting us-east servers is not hard if you’re trying to conceal what you’re trying to do

Sure is nice for spotting the low hanging fruit though.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#63

Post by lapcat »

Pesthuf wrote: post #59
treetalker wrote: post #8

For those looking for a good, free firewall for macOS, consider LuLu. https://objective-see.org/products/lulu.html

Doesn't macOS also have a built in (but disabled by default) Firewall? Why does nobody use that?

The built-in firewall is only for incoming connections, not outgoing connections.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#64

Post by nox101 »

para_parolu wrote: post #6

Little Snitch is one of the best pieces of software out there. It’s essential for every macOS user, works very well, and is a one-time payment. I truly hope it stays that way and doesn’t go down the same path as 1Password. I’m very grateful to the developers for creating such an excellent product. I wish more software were like this.

I own many more devices than just a Mac. I have an iPhone, Apple TV, Linux box, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Quest 2, Kindle. I'd prefer one piece of software that covers all of them over different software for each of them.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#65

Post by Aaron2222 »

Pesthuf wrote: post #59
treetalker wrote: post #8

For those looking for a good, free firewall for macOS, consider LuLu. https://objective-see.org/products/lulu.html

Doesn't macOS also have a built in (but disabled by default) Firewall? Why does nobody use that?

It only handles inbound connections.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#66

Post by amyames »

danpalmer wrote: post #17
para_parolu wrote: post #6

Little Snitch is one of the best pieces of software out there. It’s essential for every macOS user, works very well, and is a one-time payment. I truly hope it stays that way and doesn’t go down the same path as 1Password. I’m very grateful to the developers for creating such an excellent product. I wish more software were like this.

> It’s essential for every macOS user Is it? I'm interested in hearing why. I've been using macOS for ~15 years, so very familiar with Little Snitch. I think I owned a version many years ago but haven't for a long time. I don't really see what I'd use it for. I don't run dodgy software, I don't want to partially break the software I do run by nit picking what connections it can make as that wouldn't improve my experi…

I have grown weary of little snitch annoying me all the time but it was insightful about how much stuff Apple has me pinging by default: like yahoo.com for weather on boot just to name one.

This kind of angered me, I don’t want yahoo getting my ip anywhere I am in the world any time I turn on my computer. I think I found like 4-5 things that are baked into a clean Mac install these days that I took exception to and forbade.

Then Microsoft office and adobe are evil and constantly evading it and getting smacked down too.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#68

Post by arresin »

nox101 wrote: post #64
para_parolu wrote: post #6

Little Snitch is one of the best pieces of software out there. It’s essential for every macOS user, works very well, and is a one-time payment. I truly hope it stays that way and doesn’t go down the same path as 1Password. I’m very grateful to the developers for creating such an excellent product. I wish more software were like this.

I own many more devices than just a Mac. I have an iPhone, Apple TV, Linux box, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Quest 2, Kindle. I'd prefer one piece of software that covers all of them over different software for each of them.

This is unreasonable.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#69

Post by SanjayMehta »

danpalmer wrote: post #57
SanjayMehta wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best feature is the map which shows the locations of all the connection attempts. You can quickly spot anomalous connections to countries/servers, and locate the specific process doing this. I found a daemon left over from an uninstalled app which was attempting to connect to its mother ship in China. Very strange.

What exactly does one learn from this normally? A leftover daemon is a bit of an edge case, and you could have learnt the same from looking at Activity Monitor, seeing a permissions pop-up, noticing higher energy use, etc, but learning that software connects to China seems... fine? Unless one wants to classify all connections to China as by-definition bad, which is discrimination that I don't want to engage in person…

You obviously know more about macOS internals than most people.

I don’t know how to monitor energy use, and if I have time, I will look it up.

For me, one app which not only notifies, also shows me where its connecting is a big advantage.

Re: Little Snitch: Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS

#70

Post by jen729w »

randmeerkat wrote: post #32
jen729w wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically that's what we call "buying software".

> Technically that's what we call "buying software". What a novel idea. You mean once upon a time you didn’t have to pay a monthly racket for a piece of software you wanted..?

That's right. Rather than paying your $10/month 'racket', you simply paid $300 one time.

Then every 3 years or so you spent $300 again to get the updated version. It was a much better system!

/s

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