Little Snitch Network Monitor
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The Little Snitch Network Monitor shows you where your Mac connects to on the Internet. You decide what you want to allow or deny.
https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
https://obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/releasenotes.html
Little Snitch: Little Snitch is a personal firewall software for macOS, introduced in 2003 by the Austrian software company Objective Development. It is designed to monitor and control outbound network connections initiated by applications on the system. Unlike traditional firewalls that primarily focus on incoming traffic, Little Snitch emphasizes outbound connections, giving users visibility into and control over the data leaving their computer.
Little Snitch provides a detailed interface that displays real-time network activity, allowing users to allow or deny connections individually or create rules to manage them automatically. It includes a network monitor that presents traffic visually in a map-like view, showing connections and data flow to various servers. This visualization makes it easy to identify suspicious or unauthorized communication attempts from installed software.
Security-conscious users rely on Little Snitch to detect potential spyware, malware, or applications that phone home with telemetry data. The software can identify connection attempts from both legitimate and illegitimate software, alerting users to unusual or hidden behavior. For developers and IT professionals, it serves as a tool to monitor and debug network communication during software development and testing.
One of Little Snitch's core features is its ability to distinguish between system-level processes and user-installed applications, providing users with granular control over their network activity. Rules can be configured to allow or block connections permanently, temporarily, or based on specific conditions, such as ports or protocols.
Little Snitch operates silently in the background but notifies users with prompts when an unknown application tries to initiate an outbound connection. These prompts include detailed information such as the application's name, IP address, and the destination server's domain, which helps users make informed decisions.
Since its inception, Little Snitch has been praised for its user-friendly interface, robust security controls, and powerful monitoring capabilities. It is particularly popular among privacy advocates, network administrators, and macOS power users seeking transparency and control over their internet traffic.
Over time, Little Snitch has evolved with macOS updates, maintaining compatibility and enhancing its features. The software supports dark mode, modern user interface designs, and optimizations for Apple's latest hardware, including M1 and M2 chips.
One notable feature is its ability to operate in “silent mode,” where all network connections are allowed or denied without constant prompts, making it less intrusive during regular workflows. Users can later review and adjust decisions using a comprehensive log of network activity.
For advanced users, Little Snitch provides filtering options based on connection types, time of day, and bandwidth usage, ensuring fine-tuned control over internet access. These features are particularly useful for optimizing bandwidth on limited or metered connections.
The software's visual network monitoring tool, introduced in later versions, is one of its standout features. It displays connections as nodes and links, creating an intuitive map that reveals traffic patterns and highlights unexpected connections.
In addition to its role as a firewall, Little Snitch supports rule export and import, making it easy for users to transfer configurations between systems. This functionality is particularly valuable in enterprise environments, where multiple macOS machines require consistent security policies.
Little Snitch is a paid software, with a free trial version that includes full functionality but displays alerts after a certain period. It remains one of the leading tools for outbound connection monitoring on macOS, setting the standard for user-controlled network security.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Snitch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(computing)
https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/download-previous-versions.html
Little Snitch 5.7.6
Compatible with: