| > let's you see most (all?) of it. Who really knows any more. A couple years ago Apple prohibited kernel level firewalls (for security) and rolled out their ContentFilterExclusionList which whitelisted many Apple services, but also created a huge opportunity for attacks. It was quite an appalling gesture on Apple's part. Since then, attacks surfaced, and they backtracked on their terrible idea. https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/firewalls/358338/apple-drop... >> Apple has removed a controversial feature in its macOS operating system that allowed more than 50 of its own apps to completely bypass third-party security tools like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs). >> The ContentFilterExclusionList, introduced in macOS 11 Big Sur, was flagged by the security community and developers late last year as being a potential security risk. This list’s existence in macOS meant traffic generated from Apple software such as Maps and iCloud couldn’t be blocked by a socket filter firewall. >> Researchers have speculated that Apple excluded its own apps from the oversight of third-party firewalls in the name of overall security. For example, if excluded, these services may continue to receive updates when all web traffic is blocked. |