A per-application Firewall

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ChrisUK
Qualified MX Guide
Posts: 299
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:04 pm

A per-application Firewall

#1 Post by ChrisUK »

I actually became less enthusiastic about this after typing it all out, but I'll post it anyway ;)

Many Distros have their own tools that make them stand out from the rest... MX has many such tools, Mint had it's Update Manager and Driver Manager etc, Manjaro has...

But one program that no Distro has, seems to have been overlooked... a per-application firewall. Although many here may not see the need for it, many Windows users new to Linux seem to ask about it (usually they ask for a Zonealarm alternative - ufw is adequate for most, but is not as full featured as a Zonealarm-type clone). It used to be possible to limit program access using the group option of iptables, but that option has been removed, so there's no easy way (and certainly no GUI) to restrict a program's access to the Internet. There may be ways using Firejail, Apparmour, or SELinux, but I've found no newbie friendly way

To my knowledge, there have been only three attempts at coding such a program for Linux: Douane - Leopard Flower - and Opensnitch... all are either no longer maintained or unfinished or don't work. So, if someone has the time, there's a gap in the market for coding such a program... and MX could be unique in providing it ;)
Chris

MX 18 MX 19 - Manjaro

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