Do I Need A Firewall?

Before we begin, you need to assess for your threat model, which is described in more detail in this guide here. I suggest reading through it before proceeding.

I would probably say for the vast majority of people, a third-party firewall is unlikely needed as Windows and Macs have in-built firewalls. But, if your threat model calls for it, or if you require finer control over the connections that come and go from your computer, such as blocking access for certain pieces of software, you may find installing a third-party firewall important.

• For Macs, I highly recommend the free LuLu by Objective-See. Little Snitch is a paid alternative.
• For Windows, I haven’t tried either of these, but GlassWire and NetLimiter appear to be Window equivalents.
• If you know the exact domain addresses you are wanting to block connections to, you may wish to explore blocking via the hosts file. A guide can be found here.