Ultimate Help Desk
PC performance issues? Home Network Setup needed? Get on-demand IT help 24/7 Easily regain email account access, restore lost data, and more!
Applicable for: Mac
Learn more about Norton Smart Firewall on Mac
Smart Firewall monitors the network traffic between your Mac and the outside world to help protect you from unauthorized communication and intrusions. This feature is designed to require minimal input from you. To ensure you have protection, all you need to do is keep the Firewall enabled and, when prompted, specify whether each network that you connect to is trusted or untrusted.
Traffic monitor previews what applications are using the internet and how much data is being used. You can also find out where your apps send data and check if any apps connect to servers in a specific location. You can also create specific connection rules for each application.
Enable or disable Norton Smart Firewall on Mac
-
Open your Norton device security product.
-
On the left pane, click Security.
-
In the Security dashboard, click Smart Firewall.
-
Next to Smart Firewall, move the green (ON) slider to disable Smart Firewall.
-
If prompted, enter your Mac administrator password, then click OK.
Configure Smart Firewall rule to allow or block an application that attempts to connect to your Mac
Traffic monitor previews what applications are using the internet and how much data is being used. You can also find out where your apps send data and check if any apps connect to servers in a specific location.
-
Open your Norton device security product.
-
On the left pane, click Security.
-
Click Smart Firewall.
-
In the Traffic Monitor tab, next to All applications, click the drop-down menu to choose between the following rules. The selected rules will apply to all your apps.
-
Smart Mode: Asks if you want to block or allow untrusted app connections.
-
Allow all new connections: Automatically allows all new connections without notifying you, except the connections with set rules.
-
Block all new connections: Automatically block all new connections without notifying you, except the connections with set rules.
-
Monitor only: No connections are blocked, and any previously set rules are ignored.
-
Configure Smart Firewall rule for individual apps
-
Open your Norton device security product.
-
On the left pane, click Security.
-
Click Smart Firewall.
-
In the Traffic Monitortab, select an app to view details about its data usage.
-
Next to the app, click and specify your preferred options to
block,
Norton trust the app and all connections are allowed by default,
allow or have the app
ask for your permission when connecting to the internet.
-
Use the slider next to App connections to either
block or allow them.
-
Click Create rule to confirm the rule for the connection. You can also use the delete icon to remove the rule.
Need more help?
Last modified: 07/18/2025
Was this article helpful?