Is my router a firewall?

Hi All

I was reading an article about MacOS Xs firewall.....

I am sure that a few years ago I read somewhere that if I access the internet from a router then the router acts as a firewall - and provided I have no other network connections, then the built-in firewall is not needed.

can anyone confirm if that is correct?

In our house we have 2 macs connecting via 1 router - and that's it. Do i need os x's firewall?


Any thoughts appreciated


Robert

Most routers have a NAT firewall, which is a fairly basic, hardware firewall. The software firewall built into your Mac, provides an additional layer of protection and should be left enabled as well. If you'd like a more thorough explanation, let me know.

Correct setting?

Thank you for that.

So my software firewall is off - I have enabled it now with the third option "set access for specific services and applications" - and now whenever an application needs internet access I get asked to authorise and it gets added to a little list in the firewall window.

Is this the best firewall setting?


Many thanks

Robert

rw5373 said:

Thank you for that.

So my software firewall is off - I have enabled it now with the third option "set access for specific services and applications" - and now whenever an application needs internet access I get asked to authorise and it gets added to a little list in the firewall window.

Is this the best firewall setting?


Many thanks

Robert

Click to expand...

It really depends on your needs. If you like to have some control over what applications can open up a server connection, then yes. In my opinion, sitting behind a hardware firewall, you could probably get away with "Allow only essential services".