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kake
The answer to1984 is 1776.



Registered: 05/06/99
Posts: 2,782
Loc: The 66th harmonic
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Bit Torrent, Mac OS X, Security and Firewall
#5769631 - 06/19/06 07:58 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Okay, so I have recently adopted a Mac with OS X and have turned on the firewall, but the only way I can get BitTorrent to work fast is by creating a rule that allows networking traffic on ports 6881-6889. This sort of worries me.
Currently, I have a router with a built in firewall, but it has port forwarding set up. I used to use a software firewall with Win XP to open ports 6881-6889 on the machine, but set a rule that only allowed the BitTorrent.exe file to use these ports. Mac OS X firewall does not allow such an option.
I feel like I should know the answer to this but I don't know nearly as much about Mac OS X as I do Windows. Anyone with some expertise, can you tell me if this is a security problem and what options exist to fix it if so?
thanks in advance
-------------------- The answer to 1984 is 1776.
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Vvellum
Stranger

Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
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Re: Bit Torrent, Mac OS X, Security and Firewall [Re: kake]
#5769847 - 06/19/06 09:04 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Is bittorrent not working for you? I'm sure there is a way to open ports in the mac firewall, but I dont know - never used it before.
you should not use those ports - they are often blocked or monitored by ISPs. Try higher, random ports.
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Vvellum
Stranger

Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
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Re: Bit Torrent, Mac OS X, Security and Firewall [Re: kake]
#5769863 - 06/19/06 09:09 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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from http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/
Quote:
To open ports in the Mac OS X firewall, do the following:
1. Open System Preferences. 2. Click Sharing. 3. Select the Firewall tab. 4. Click the New... button. 5. Click the popup menu in the dialog that appears, and choose Other.... 6. In the Port Number, Range, or Series field, enter 6881-6999. 7. In the Name field, enter BitTorrent (or any other identifying string.) 8. Click OK.
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kake
The answer to1984 is 1776.



Registered: 05/06/99
Posts: 2,782
Loc: The 66th harmonic
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Re: Bit Torrent, Mac OS X, Security and Firewall [Re: Vvellum]
#5770115 - 06/19/06 10:20 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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No, BitTorrent is working fine. I've never had an issue with my ISP either. The question I'm asking is if I am creating an opening for hackers or whatever.
-------------------- The answer to 1984 is 1776.
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Vvellum
Stranger

Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 10,920
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Re: Bit Torrent, Mac OS X, Security and Firewall [Re: kake]
#5770127 - 06/19/06 10:23 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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not really
just browsing on the web with your browser opens port 80. everything that connects to the internet connects thru a port.
you can test your setup with something like https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
router firewalls are pretty good. you probably dont even need to use the osx firewall - the router is plenty. you'll never be 100% secure, but for all practical purposes, a router (when configured properly) is all you need.
you still should change your default ports for bittorrent, though.
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