Little Snitch

While the internet and prevalence of computers in the everyday world may have made our lives easier and more interconnected, they sheer amount of personal information and the range of apps we use on a daily basis can also leave us open to exposure. Whether you're concerned about internet criminals or online advertisers using your data, Little Snitch can provide you with an added sense of peace of mind. It goes beyond what you can expect of firewalls by letting you know whenever an app on your desktop or laptop is trying to communicate using the internet and gives you control of what it can do. The heart of the Little Snitch experience is the network monitor, a cleanly designed little dashboard that's both useful and fascinating. Its large global map shows you exactly where your data is being sent through the use of lines spiraling out from the hub of your location. A sidebar to the map lets you track outgoing data according to the apps being run and also shows you a simple graph that helps you keep track of the volume of data traffic both incoming and outgoing. A tab on the right shows the present uploads and downloads while providing you with more nuanced metrics on how your bandwidth is being used. You'll know precise locations for all the servers with which your computer is communicating, and denying access is as simple as a click of a button. You can also easily figure out why particular server connections were automatically allowed or denied. If you don't have time to monitor your connections in the moment, you can create a snapshot that you can use for later analysis, and quick filters and location searches allow you to dig deeper in pursuit of the metrics that matter to you. The natural relationship between modern devices and the rest of the world means that Macs make a lot of connections practically all day long. Luckily, you don't have to leave your dashboard open and constantly keep clicking through choices every time the Mac reaches out to a foreign server. Rather than relying on pop-ups, the default silent mode while quietly record your connections so that you can track all of them in bulk rather than having to address each one individually as they arise. If you're at a loss for exactly what a process on your Mac is doing, Little Snitch has the tools to assist you. These include a research assistant which culls the information provided by the app developer. While not everything is covered, it's a pretty effective tool when working with popular and established software. Their improved network filter relies on deep packet inspections to more reliably identify the source and nature of the servers you're connecting to.