Portmaster, An Open Source Firewall For The Desktop

Security should ne'er beryllium taken for granted, nary matter what operating strategy you use. You mightiness person a Linux desktop and presume it to beryllium invincible. In that assumption, you would beryllium wrong.

If a machine is attached to a network, it is vulnerable.

Read that aloud, again and again.

Most operating systems person built-in firewalls and different systems for protection, and that’s great. However, it doesn’t mean nan OS is bulletproof. There’s ever immoderate measurement that your information and/or privateness tin beryllium breached, and erstwhile it does, bad things tin happen.

You don’t want that.

So, what do you do?

You tin employment an exertion firewall to beef up nan information of your desktop aliases laptop.

One specified firewall is called Portmaster.

Portmaster is simply a free exertion firewall (although location are paid versions pinch much features) that offers system-wide information to expose each relationship each exertion makes to observe thing and everything that doesn’t person your champion interests successful mind.

With Portmaster, you tin artifact ads and trackers, malware, contented that’s NSFW, deceptive services, group world and per-app options, show each web activity, group unafraid DNS, allow/block circumstantial websites, artifact circumstantial countries, artifact p2p connections, and more. This exertion firewall is tin of automating protection, truthful it’s almost a set-it-and-forget-it tool.

Portmaster was created and is maintained by Safing.io and tin beryllium installed connected Linux and Windows (sorry, macOS).

Let’s instal Portmaster and spot really it works.

What You’ll Need

I’m going to show nan installation of Portmaster connected Linux — specifically Ubuntu 25.10. If you usage either macOS aliases Windows, nan installation is simply a matter of downloading nan installer file, double-clicking it, and pursuing nan installation wizard.

For nan Linux installation, you’ll request a personification pinch sudo privileges. For each installations, you’ll request a moving web connection.

That’s it. Let’s install.

Installing Portmaster connected Linux

Portmaster comes successful installer packages for some Ubuntu- and Fedora-based distributions. To instal nan app connected Ubuntu Linux, constituent your web browser to nan safing.io site, click nan Download drop-down, and prime nan .deb option. After making your selection, click Free Download and prevention nan record successful your ~/Downloads directory.

After nan record downloads, unfastened a terminal model and alteration into nan Downloads directory pinch nan command:

Install nan app pinch nan command:

If you’re utilizing a Fedora-based distribution, nan installation bid would be:

The installation should spell disconnected without a hitch. Once it’s installed, you’re fresh to usage nan app.

Using Portmaster

When you unfastened Portmaster, you’ll beryllium greeted by a setup wizard. The first measurement is to commencement nan Portmaster work by clicking START NOW (Figure 1),

The adjacent steps successful nan wizard are customizing what it blocks (trackers, ads, etc.) and selecting a Secure DNS work by default. Portmaster uses Cloudflare, but you tin take Quad9, AdGuard, and Foundation For Applied Privacy (Figure 2).

The bully point astir nan unafraid DNS characteristic is that it protects system-wide, truthful it’s not constricted to conscionable your web browser.

With nan setup wizard complete, you’ll find yourself connected nan Portmaster dashboard, wherever you tin get a real-time position of what’s happening.

At this point, unfastened your web browser and effort to spell to immoderate website. You should spot connected nan Portmaster dashboard really galore connections were blocked. For example, I visited conscionable 3 different sites and recovered 177 connections had been blocked (Figure 3).

I intentionally mistyped a URL (msnb.com alternatively of msnbc.com) and Portmaster automatically blocked it (most apt because nan mistyped URL led to a malicious tract (Figure 4). Should that happen, Portmaster does not connection you a measurement to subvert nan block; it’s conscionable blocked, and you’re done.

Click connected nan doorbell icon to position your notifications. In my notifications, I was informed that 5 apps were making connections: Speech Dispatcher, Network Manager, Firefox, and Chronyd.

You tin click connected 1 of those apps and past configure Portmaster to enactment connected it successful circumstantial ways. For example, erstwhile I opened nan Firefox introduction (Figure 5), I recovered that Portmaster wasn’t blocking connections (which is basal for it to function).

I could besides click nan Settings tab and configure various aspects, specified arsenic web scope, relationship types, rules, select lists, and much (Figure 6).

There’s besides nan Global Settings feature, wherever you tin reconfigure nan settings you were offered during nan setup wizard, arsenic good arsenic Networking Scope, Connection Types, Rules, subdomain blocking, and more.

What I recovered pinch Portmaster is that retired of nan box, it performed very well. I could person taken nan clip to further configure nan app, but it offered plentifulness of information without having to monkey pinch nan settings. Of course, you whitethorn find it needs tweaking. I you do find it doesn’t rather connection capable out-of-the-box security, dive into nan settings and spot if you tin amended it for your needs.

You tin usage Portmaster for free, aliases you tin acquisition a Portmaster Plus relationship (4€ / month, aliases astir $4.65 US)  to adhd privacy, investigative features, and Safing support, aliases a Portmaster Pro relationship (9.90€ / month, aliases astir $11.52 US), which adds SPN (Safing Privacy Network, a privacy-focused web work that routes net connections done aggregate tunnels).

I would propose giving nan free type a try. If that isn’t enough, you tin ever upgrade.

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