Enhancing macOS Security with macOS-Fortress

If you have ever been concerned about the security of your MacOS device, you will be pleased to learn about macOS-Fortress.

This powerful tool is a combination of firewall, blackhole, and privatizing proxy for trackers, attackers, malware, adware and spammers. It provides kernel-level, OS-level, and client-level security, making your MacOS device a fortress against threats.

The primary challenge with macOS-Fortress is that it demands advanced user skills for setup and installation, making it less suitable for everyday users. Installation is conducted via command-line and configuring it requires some understanding of its workings.

Features

A Defensive Approach to Security

macOS-Fortress was built to address the steady stream of cyber threats visible on snort and server logs. It not only blocks ads and malicious scripts but also conceals information used to track you around the web. The results are impressive; after installing this package, detections from snort and other sources have fallen significantly.

A Comprehensive Proxy Solution

Beyond being a robust firewall, macOS-Fortress also excels as a proxy solution. It offers an adaptive firewall to brute force attacks and frequently updates IP blocks from reliable sources like emergingthreats.net and dshield.org. Host blocks are also updated from hphosts.net.

The proxy feature also includes HTTPS Inspection using Privoxy and incorporates multiple blocking rulesets into both Privoxy and PAC formats. This includes rules from easyprivacy.txt, easylist.txt, fanboy-annoyance.txt, fanboy-social.txt, antiadblockfilters.txt, malwaredomains_full.txt, and the anti-spamware list adblock-list.txt.

Anti-Virus Capabilities

As a cherry on top, macOS-Fortress also configures clamAV for MacOS. It provides regular on-demand scans and on-access scanning of user Downloads and Desktop directories, keeping your files secure from potential threats.

In conclusion, macOS-Fortress is a comprehensive security solution for anyone using MacOS. It blocks threats, filters ads, and ensures that your MacOS device remains secure from potential cyber threats. It's more capable and effective than using a simple adblocking browser add-on. With macOS-Fortress, you can surf the web with peace of mind.

Install on macOS

You can easily install the app using Macport by running the following from your terminal:

sudo port install macos-fortress
port notes macos-fortress
sudo port load macos-fortress

After initial installation, it is necessary to kickstart these launch daemons, which run on a schedule, and do not run at load time:

sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.macports.macos-fortress-dshield
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.macports.macos-fortress-emergingthreats
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.macports.macos-fortress-hphosts
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.macports.adblock2privoxy
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.macports.macos-fortress-easylistpac

The default web server is native macOS Apache, which must be started with the command:

sudo apachectl start

Note that all files in this repo are superceded by the MacPorts port macos-fortress, including the deprecated installation script readme-and-install.sh.

You can also choose to install Firewall-only or Proxy-only setup:

Firewall-only installation

sudo port install macos-fortress-pf
port notes macos-fortress-pf
sudo port load macos-fortress-pf

Proxy-only installation

sudo port install macos-fortress-proxy
port notes macos-fortress-proxy
sudo port load macos-fortress-proxy

License

The app is an open-source software that is released under the MIT License.

Resources & Downloads

• Source-code and download