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Is Little Snitch a dangerous app to have?
- Thread starter coqui52
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So wait, you bought Little Snitch and installed it, but don't know what it does?
LS monitors outgoing traffic from your computer onto the network, so that you can identify programs that are trying to access the network.
In short, it's not dangerous, quite the opposite.
LS monitors outgoing traffic from your computer onto the network, so that you can identify programs that are trying to access the network.
In short, it's not dangerous, quite the opposite.
Little Snitch is a firewall, it helps to protect your mac from outgoing connections by prompting you if you want to allow or block each outgoing connection. (it is not just a monitoring app as the last post suggests)
It's a must have app for mac people.
It's a must have app for mac people.
Note he said he installed, but he didn't say he bought it.
If you pirate it, there is a chance it could have trojans in it.
If you bought it, you are safe.
If you pirate it, there is a chance it could have trojans in it.
If you bought it, you are safe.
Little Snitch is a security application. It won't harm your computer if you purchase it. There are not any known trojans for pirated versions of Little Snitch, however I could see how some companies would do that, as Little Snitch is a common app for piraters
Companies don't do that at all. They'll be in far bigger trouble than the priates in this place. It's the hackers who uploads the trojan-infected pirated copies.
This is going off topic. But, you don't think that companies flood the torrent sites with bad software to deter pirating?
I bet some do, and I bet all movie companies do likewise.
Yeah... because you can piggyback a working trojan into a movie file...
I didn't mean a trojan in regards to the movie companies. But I think they spread bad copies of stuff that won't play. Or supposedly require "additional software."
How is that even possible? Comments on the torrent pages from downloaders show the file's true intent, and it really isn't possible for a movie file to require "additional software". You can't just make up a format out of the blue.
it's a genius program once you get past the initial setup (and being asked about every single connection).
no. it will not make you more vulnerable.
no. it will not make you more vulnerable.
Think he means additional software to play it... like a dodgy codec you have to download. I've seen movies on torrents that are like that.
Thing is, companies will put out fakes to try and put people off, but it'll never work properly. Uploaders of torrents have reputations, and if their username is the upload, then you can trust it is what it is. Be it a movie or software.
It won't do anything. It'll be filtered out pretty fast. Most torrent sites comes with people comments that'll inform you if there is any malware installed or if it works or not and a lot of time it'll get deleted off torrent sites and many people are using private trackers that are usually pretty damn effective and even harder to track for those companies.
Piracy can't be deterred, it'll always be there.
(plus we do have a database of IP addresses used by companies in order to ban them from seeding to us, most torrent clients have them now)
That's beside the point, a company is not allowed to modify its app to do damage to people's machines as part of the anti-piracy method. They can delete the app or block their own app to do something but not anything else.
I don't. They're not targeting me. If you don't know that an area of water bordered by land on three sides has comments on their pages, you're not very well versed in the Internet.
I personally just use the built-in Firewall with OS X.
It allows me to choose what programs access the internet, so it works fine and dandy for me. Plus it's free
It allows me to choose what programs access the internet, so it works fine and dandy for me. Plus it's free
I personally just use the built-in Firewall with OS X.
It allows me to choose what programs access the internet, so it works fine and dandy for me. Plus it's free
The firewall in Security Tab in Systems Pref or the firewall in the command line?
Cuz the firewall in security tab only works on incoming connections, you still need to block the outgoing connections somehow.
The RIAA doesn't go after people who pirate software. They mainly go after people who haven't discovered BT and still use Limewire for music.
Back to the topic. LittleSnitch is a great piece of software that lets you keep an eye on things. Highly recommend it.
The built in firewall that comes with OS X (in system preferences) is horrible. IPFW, the built in UNIX firewall, is the best you can get, but Apple sidables it by default.
Little Snitch is an outgoing firewall, and is a very very good app to have. It is very useful at stopping trojans from sending out your data, stopping apps from "phoning home", and your application serial number and registration from being sent out, should you wish to prevent it.
Little Snitch is an outgoing firewall, and is a very very good app to have. It is very useful at stopping trojans from sending out your data, stopping apps from "phoning home", and your application serial number and registration from being sent out, should you wish to prevent it.
Little snitch is the mac's antivirus, in an indirect way. It disallows the CHANCE for a host to connect to you without your permission or for programs to dial out. In the coming year this will likely be a much more useful program as the virus platform for the Mac has at least started to show up; even if it is not directly executable yet, it can be with scripting and automation and most likely will be by the end of the year if someone decides it is beneficial to them to produce such a "virus" if you will. The only thing it has to get around is the Mac's input password to access program files and I'm sure anything is possible.
Be aware that certain programs still dial out around little snitch such as Adobe products. Adobe products have to have the host list edited to keep them from calling home as they walk right around little snitch through the use of specialized non monitored ports.
I told you that to tell you this.... Little Snitch may not always save you and should be considered at best a good preventative. Such as the example I gave above, some programs can still get out with LS installed. Either custom editing of the hosts in your apps, or setting up extreme rules lists in LS are needed to completely deny outgoing, which can be quite Vista like with all those nanny rules in place causing LS to constantly ask permission.
So yes it is 99% of the time an exceptional program, but there are SOME holes that products like Adobe take advantage of when calling home. A quick hosts edit solves that if you don't want any background traffic from your apps.
Be aware that certain programs still dial out around little snitch such as Adobe products. Adobe products have to have the host list edited to keep them from calling home as they walk right around little snitch through the use of specialized non monitored ports.
I told you that to tell you this.... Little Snitch may not always save you and should be considered at best a good preventative. Such as the example I gave above, some programs can still get out with LS installed. Either custom editing of the hosts in your apps, or setting up extreme rules lists in LS are needed to completely deny outgoing, which can be quite Vista like with all those nanny rules in place causing LS to constantly ask permission.
So yes it is 99% of the time an exceptional program, but there are SOME holes that products like Adobe take advantage of when calling home. A quick hosts edit solves that if you don't want any background traffic from your apps.
I think the name just throught the OP off. I too thought "Little Snitch" was a shady name. Pretty catchy though.
That is what I meant.
I know comments point out fakes. That is how I know there are tons of fakes out there. The fact that you have a database of company IPs means they do post fakes. That was all I was trying to say and I suspect that goes on.
That makes sense that they wouldn't be allowed to spread bad software no one is. But it happens. Just like people are allowed to download software they didn't pay for.
I'm not accusing software companies, I'm just pointing out that they have a motive.
Little Snitch only stops outgoing connections.
I haven't seen this, I've got plenty of Adobe apps installed, and Little Snitch has blocked them fine. My hosts list is also fine. Do you have a link to an example of this happening?