Enable Firewall in OS X

While the OS X Operating System has a reputation of being secure you should still be extremely cautions with the contents of your computer. Firewalls, unlike Anti-virus programs, prevent your computer from receiving anything it did not initiate. Random Internet noise and port scans are a prime example of things your firewall will disregard and block. Most people are already running a firewall in their homes and offices in the form of a router. The router will not pass along anything that doesn’t have a specific destination. Therefore, random port scans often fail to get through. But this doesn’t mean the router is impervious to attacks or exploits. So it’s good to have a software firewall installed on your computer, as well.

Enable The Firewall In Snow Leopard

Unfortunately, the firewall is disabled by default in Snow Leopard. You can quickly enable it, however, by opening the System Preferences and clicking the Security icon. Under the firewall tab, simply click Start to turn the firewall on.  It’s understandable why Apple doesn’t want the firewall on by default. They want everything to work and consider their OS to be secure. Maybe that’s true. By enabling the firewall, you risk blocking users on your network from accessing files on your computer. If you do experience this after turning on the firewall, at least you know what it happening and can tweak your sharing or even disable the firewall, if necessary. Normally, though, you will notice absolutely no side-effects from enabling the firewall and your computer will be more secure.

Tagged as: firewall, Security