Apple's apps bypass firewalls like LittleSnitch and LuLu on macOS Big Sur

Post by sneak » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 2:18 AM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #396

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're on a laptop, you won't necessarily always be able to filter on the router level.

Of course not, which is why this still isn't very cool. If you're super paranoid you can always carry around a small router or a pi to attach to the wifi and be your external router though.

Post by roody15 » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 2:38 AM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #6

This is one of those tough cases where software cuts both ways. Some people are smart, informed developers that install a trusted tool to monitor their traffic and have legitimate reasons to want to inspect Apple traffic. They're dismayed. Most people are the opposite and this move protects the most sensitive data from being easily scooped up or muddled in easily installed apps, or at least easily installed apps that…

Post by jachee » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 2:50 AM UTC

Godel_unicode wrote: post #475

3pt14159 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I agree with your first part. There are real drawbacks. But it's like installing a custom HTTPS cert in your OS to inspect potential traffic that malware may use through, say, a Google Doc or Sheet. It's helpful to true professionals dealing with highly sensitive information, but it's ultimately a bigger source of compromise for the vast majority of software users. I don't think there is an easy answer here. That…

Absolutely not, installing a CA makes attacks which weren't previously possible now possible. A host firewall isn't doing anything a network provider (read: your ISP, coffee shop, vpn provider, etc) couldn't already do. At least you can possibly look at what the host firewall is doing.

Post by jachee » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 3:03 AM UTC

_qulr wrote: post #510

"You have to trust Apple", it's said. But I suspect that if you actually knew how much your Apple devices were phoning home to Cupertino, you wouldn't trust Apple anymore. Using Little Snitch (the kernel extension) was a real eye opener for me. Especially when I allowed Little Snitch to block all Apple processes (by disabling the built-in iCloud Services and macOS Services rule groups). This may be a good time to rem…

Post by _qulr » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 3:18 AM UTC

jachee wrote: post #527

_qulr wrote: post #510

"You have to trust Apple", it's said. But I suspect that if you actually knew how much your Apple devices were phoning home to Cupertino, you wouldn't trust Apple anymore. Using Little Snitch (the kernel extension) was a real eye opener for me. Especially when I allowed Little Snitch to block all Apple processes (by disabling the built-in iCloud Services and macOS Services rule groups). This may be a good time to rem…

Apply Occam's Razor. Why would the most successful company in history—a success gained in no small part through protecting users, selling hardware and services instead of their data, and promoting and enhancing privacy as a first-class feature—do that sort of thing? What possible benefit could such a centralized database serve? How's that gonna make them more money?