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I am a soon-to-be MAC user, awaiting delivery of my new MAC Air laptop, with Big Sur OS, o/a Jan. 27. In the meantime I have been reading up on security, especially firewalls.
As you all know, Windows Operating System (winOS) has a very effective firewall (FW) built right into itself. So does macOS.
As delivered, the winOS FW is enabled. winOS does not make it easy for the user to disable its FW.
Unlike Windows, the firewall in macOS, as delivered, is disabled. It is up to the user to enable it.
WHY is macOS delivered with its FW disabled? I am still pondering that question. So far, the best comments I have found about this issue are in the HowToGeek's article at HERE. That article deals with several issues including:
Why macOS FW isn't enabled by default
Downsides of FWs
Why you might want to enable macOS FW
==>How to enable & configure macOSFW
As you all know, there are a several 3rd party FWs for winOS. So far I have uncovered only two for macOS:
Lulu: see HERE and HERE. Lulu is a free "front-end" for macOS FW -- like Windows Firewall Control is for winOS FW.
Little Snitch: see HERE and Here. Little Snitch is a not-free stand-alone FW for macOS. (While there are stand-alone FWs for winOS, such as Comodo's, they are all free, as far as I know.)
I would VERY much appreciate comments and/or answers to the following questions:
Q1: Besides Lulu & Little Snitch, are there any other 3rd party FWs for macOS?
Q2: Given that I possibly will NOT run any anti-virus on my MAC***, should I enable the macOS FW AND/OR should I run a 3rd party FW?
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*** For those interested in WHY MACs don't need much added security, I suggest reading THIS article, et alia.
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I didn't know that the firewall wasn't enabled in the macOS, sounds like a bad idea to me. On the other hand, without any third party tools, I believe that the Windows Firewall will also allow outbound connections. But anyway, you can also check out NetBarrier X9, but I believe it's integrated into Mac Internet Security X9, it's a bit unclear if you can stil use the standalone version without the AV.
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