Block unauthorized incoming connections on Mac using HexnodeSolved

Hey, Thanks for reaching out to us.

Hexnode lets you configure firewall on Mac devices to block the unauthorized incoming connections before it reaches the device.

To configure the firewall:

1. Navigate to Policies-> macOS-> Security-> Firewall and click Configure.
2. Check the option ‘Enable Firewall’.
3. Under Applications, click on Allow incoming connections or Block incoming connections as per your requirement.
4. Click on the +Add app and choose the desired apps. Click Done.
5. Associate targets and save the policy.

Please check out our help doc on configuring a firewall for more info.

Cheers!
Grace Baker
Hexnode MDM

What happens If we enable stealth mode?

Hey, Thanks for reaching out to us.

On enabling the stealth mode, the Mac will be stopped from responding to probing requests. The Mac will still acknowledge the incoming requests for the authorized apps. The unexpected requests such as ICMP (ping) are disregarded.

When the stealth mode is enabled, the users will not be able to manually turn off Firewall from their Mac devices unless the device(s) is removed from the policy targets or the concerned policy is deleted.

Cheers!
Grace Baker
Hexnode MDM

Once the firewall is turned on by Hexnode and stealth mode not enabled, how can this be turned off?

Hey, Thanks for reaching out to us.

The firewall cannot be turned off either by removing the device from the Policy Targets or by deleting the firewall policy associated with the device.
You will be able to manually turn it off from your Mac. Login to the device using an admin account, navigate to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Firewall and click on the lock icon at the bottom left. Enter the password and click on Turn Off Firewall.

Please check out our help doc on configuring firewall for more info.

Cheers!
Grace Baker
Hexnode MDM

Can the connections to a certain Mac app alone be blocked using the firewall feature in Hexnode?

Hi Frankie,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

You shall be able to block incoming connections to certain applications through the firewall policy of macOS devices. You can open your policy -> macOS -> Security -> Firewall. Here, you shall be able to add apps to which you want to block the incoming connections.

Please have a look at the below image.

You can have a look at our official help document for the same as well.

Cheers!

Thomas Specter
Hexnode MDM