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Learn more about customizing firewall settings for Mac

Firewall settings let you customize how firewall should monitor and respond to the inbound and the outbound network communications. Firewall settings contain the access settings for the applications, services, and ports on your Mac. They also contain access settings for connections to or from the other computers in the network to which your Mac is connected.

You can use the Firewall window to customize the following firewall settings:

Application Blocking

Lets you configure firewall rules for the applications that run on your Mac to connect to the Internet.

The Application Blocking settings determine whether to allow or deny an application, such as a web browser or iTunes, from connecting to the Internet.

Application Blocking settings are not specific to a particular network location. The Application Blocking settings do not change when you change to a different network location.

You can use the Configure option under Application Blocking to set Internet access for applications on your Mac.

Connection Blocking

Lets you allow or block the applications, ports, services, and IP addresses that:

  • Connect to your Mac.

  • Connect to a network.

The Connection Blocking settings determine whether to allow or deny the incoming or the outgoing connections that use a specific service, application, or a port. You can also configure firewall to allow or block a specific IP address on the network.

Connection blocking settings apply only to a particular location.

You can use the settings icon in the Connection Blocking row to set connections for applications and services on your Mac.

Vulnerability Protection

Helps you in detecting and preventing Intrusions through the Internet. Vulnerability Protection monitors all the incoming and the outgoing traffic on your Mac and blocks any unauthorized access.

It provides information about the susceptibility of the programs that may be on your Mac against malicious attacks.

Location Awareness

Lets you configure the firewall settings based on the network location to which your Mac is connected.

The firewall settings that you configure contain the connection blocking settings for the application and services that run on your Mac. When you connect your portable Mac to a new network location, your Norton product prompts you to select a new firewall setting for the network location.

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DOCID: v18368335
Operating System: Mac
Last modified: 09/06/2023