Catalina’s built-in software firewall acts as the wall surrounding your MacBook castle by allowing in the communications you want while preventing unknown communications from potential threats. The Catalina firewall works with your Internet connection and with any networks you may have joined.

• Stealth Mode On Computer

Oct 04, 2010  Stealth mode is best used when you are on a public network (or really in any other place where you aren't behind your OWN router. But you won't get into any real trouble, like you can if you start. Sep 17, 2012  Check Enable Stealth Mode For additional protection you can also turn on the firewall (I recommend the: Set access for specific services and applications option.) On Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Choose Apple menu System Preferences, then click Security & Privacy, and then select Firewall. Worth mentioning that AdGuard for Mac becomes the second AdGuard product to receive the «CoreLibs treatment» after Adguard for Android. Added Stealth Mode #12. Stealth Mode is a special module which sole purpose is to protect your online privacy. As the name says, AdGuard blocks ads. The Stealth Mode in AdGuard helps to prevent tracking of your online activities from various hackers, spammers, and other online thieves. The Browsing Security feature helps in safeguarding one from infectious, malicious, and phishing websites. MacOS Sierra’s firewall feature blocks unwanted network traffic coming into your computer, and Stealth Mode makes your Mac essentially invisible to hackers snooping for computers to target.

To display the Firewall settings, click the System Preferences icon on the Dock and then click the Security & Privacy icon. Click the Firewall tab to display the settings you see below.

If your Mac’s firewall hasn’t yet been turned on, click the Turn On Firewall button to start the ball rolling. (In the above image, this button has toggled to Turn Off Firewall because your Mac’s firewall is already on.)

Is the Turn On Firewall button disabled? Don’t panic; just click the padlock icon in the lower-left corner. If Catalina prompts you for your Admin user account password, type it and then click Unlock.

Click the Firewall Options button, and Catalina presents four options you can set:

• Block All Incoming Connections: It’s not usually a good idea to use this option because turning it on reduces the data you receive, cutting off access to the Internet for virtually all your applications. (In other words, blocking all incoming Internet connections is overly drastic security that prevents you from doing many nifty things with your MacBook. If all your third-party applications suddenly can’t connect to the Internet and Safari still works fine, check this setting to see if it was enabled by mistake.) Use this feature only if you suspect that your Mac is the target of an Internet hacking attack.
• Automatically Allow Downloaded Signed Software to Receive Incoming Connections: Enable this one right now. After you do, software you’ve installed that’s accompanied by a valid security certificate (including any application from Apple and most major third-party software developers) is automatically added to the Allowed list you see on the Firewall Options sheet. If an application without a security certificate tries to access the Internet, your Mac displays a dialog prompting you for confirmation, and you can decide yes or no.
  • You can manually add an application to the Allowed list. Click the button with the plus sign at the bottom of the list and then navigate to the application that needs to communicate with the outside world. Click the application to select it and then click Add. Remember: Only third-party applications you install yourself will likely need to be added to the Allowed list, because all the applications that Apple includes with your Mac are already on the list.
  • To delete an application from the Allowed list and return it to blocked status, select it in the list and click the button with the minus sign.

• • You can edit the settings in a specific application by clicking the pop-up menu on the right side of the entry. By default, the setting is Allow Incoming Connections (including both your local network and the Internet). However, you can choose Block Incoming Connections to prevent that application from receiving any communications.
• Enable Stealth Mode: Here’s an option that you should turn on. Stealth mode helps prevent hackers from attacking your Mac by preventing it from responding to simple identification queries across the Internet. Hackers often search the Internet for available computers that automatically respond to such queries.

If you suddenly can’t connect to other computers or share files that you originally could share, review the settings that you enabled on this pane: They may be the culprits.

You can also verify that the correct sharing services are still enabled in the Sharing pane within System Preferences. (When you enable a service through the Sharing pane, Catalina automatically adds that service to the Allowed list.

When you turn on Printer Sharing on the Sharing pane, for example, Catalina adds a Printer Sharing entry to the firewall’s Allowed list.) Open the System Preferences window and click the Sharing icon, and make sure that the services you want to provide are selected.

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This article lists and describes the different compliance settings you can configure on macOS devices in Intune. As part of your mobile device management (MDM) solution, use these settings to set a minimum or maximum OS version, set passwords to expire, and more.

This feature applies to:

• macOS

As an Intune administrator, use these compliance settings to help protect your organizational resources. To learn more about compliance policies, and what they do, see get started with device compliance.

Before you begin

Create a compliance policy. For Platform, select macOS.

Device Health

• Require a system integrity protection
  • Not configured (default) - This setting isn't evaluated for compliance or non-compliance.
  • Require - Require macOS devices to have System Integrity Protection (opens Apple's web site) enabled.

Device Properties

• Minimum OS required
  When a device doesn't meet the minimum OS version requirement, it's reported as non-compliant. A link with information on how to upgrade is shown. The device user can choose to upgrade their device. After that, they can access organization resources.

• Maximum OS version allowed
  When a device uses an OS version later than the version in the rule, access to organization resources is blocked. The device user is asked to contact their IT administrator. The device can't access organization resources until a rule changes to allow the OS version.

• Minimum OS build version
  When Apple publishes security updates, the build number is typically updated, not the OS version. Use this feature to enter a minimum allowed build number on the device.

• Maximum OS build version
  When Apple publishes security updates, the build number is typically updated, not the OS version. Use this feature to enter a maximum allowed build number on the device.

System security settings

Password

• Require a password to unlock mobile devices

  • Not configured (default)
  • Require Users must enter a password before they can access their device.

• Simple passwords

  • Not configured (default) - Users can create passwords simple like 1234 or 1111.
  • Block - Users can't create simple passwords, such as 1234 or 1111.

• Minimum password length
  Enter the minimum number of digits or characters that the password must have.

• Password type
  Choose if a password should have only Numeric characters, or if there should be a mix of numbers and other characters (Alphanumeric).

• Number of non-alphanumeric characters in password
  Enter the minimum number of special characters, such as &, #, %, !, and so on, that must be in the password.

  Setting a higher number requires the user to create a password that is more complex.

• Maximum minutes of inactivity before password is required
  Enter the idle time before the user must reenter their password.

• Password expiration (days)
  Select the number of days before the password expires, and they must create a new one.

• Number of previous passwords to prevent reuse
  Enter the number of previously used passwords that can't be used.

Important

When the password requirement is changed on a macOS device, it doesn't take effect until the next time the user changes their password. For example, if you set the password length restriction to eight digits, and the macOS device currently has a six digits password, then the device remains compliant until the next time the user updates their password on the device.

Encryption

• Encryption of data storage on a device
  • Not configured (default)
  • Require - Use Require to encrypt data storage on your devices.

Device Security

Firewall protects devices from unauthorized network access. You can use Firewall to control connections on a per-application basis.

• Firewall

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  • Not configured (default) - This setting leaves the firewall turned off, and network traffic is allowed (not blocked).
  • Enable - Use Enable to help protect devices from unauthorized access. Enabling this feature allows you to handle incoming internet connections, and use stealth mode.

• Incoming connections

  • Not configured (default) - Allows incoming connections and sharing services.
  • Block - Block all incoming network connections except the connections required for basic internet services, such as DHCP, Bonjour, and IPSec. This setting also blocks all sharing services, including screen sharing, remote access, iTunes music sharing, and more.

• Stealth Mode

  • Not configured (default) - This setting leaves stealth mode turned off.
  • Enable - Turn on stealth mode to prevent devices from responding to probing requests, which can be made my malicious users. When enabled, the device continues to answer incoming requests for authorized apps.

Gatekeeper

For more information, see Gatekeeper on macOS (opens Apple's web site).

• Allow apps downloaded from these locations
  Allows supported applications to be installed on your devices from different locations. Your location options:

  • Not configured (default) - The gatekeeper option has no impact on compliance or non-compliance.
  • Mac App Store - Only install apps for the Mac app store. Apps can't be installed from third parties nor identified developers. If a user selects Gatekeeper to install apps outside the Mac App Store, then the device is considered not compliant.
  • Mac App Store and identified developers - Install apps for the Mac app store and from identified developers. macOS checks the identity of developers, and does some other checks to verify app integrity. If a user selects Gatekeeper to install apps outside these options, then the device is considered not compliant.
  • Anywhere - Apps can be installed from anywhere, and by any developer. This option is the least secure.

Next steps

Stealth Mode On Computer

• Add actions for noncompliant devices and use scope tags to filter policies.
• Monitor your compliance policies.
• See the compliance policy settings for iOS devices.