Disabling Bonjour on Mac OS

Reducing some of the noise on my network

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

⚙️ Check out my series on Automating Cybersecurity Metrics | Code.

🔒 Related Stories: OS and IoT Security | Network Security | Apple Mac Security

💻 Free Content on Jobs in Cybersecurity | ✉️ Sign up for the Email List

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote about all the noise generated by the Apple OS here. I keep trying to figure out how to turn this stuff off on a laptop where I don’t need all this nonsense — where I’m working.

One of those noisy features is all the traffic on port 5353. I don’t need to automatically connect to things or share my video to my TV and such on my work computers.

Perhaps I will regret this when I need to print, but I can always turn this back on if and when I need that, which is rarely. Or I could have a separate computer for printing which does not have this disabled. I’ll likely opt for the latter.

After searching and searching I finally figured out how to turn this off.

I actually found it on the Tenable site which recommends turning this service off if you don’t need it — likely based on some presentations at Defcon or BlackHat if my memory serves me well.

Here’s the command to disable to this service.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist NoMulticastAdvertisements -bool true

I wrote about how to create a configuration file to run at startup here:

I’m not actually sure this is required but to make sure this stays disabled you could add it to that file.

Well, unfortunately, after that change, I’m still seeing blocked traffic on port 5353, but at least it’s one less thing to worry about.

The traffic is greatly reduced.

I can see what other services use this port with a Google search. I’ll deal with these other services later.

Based on the separate listing, I’m not sure if printers are affected by the change I just made, but I’m not in the mood to figure that out right now. Later.

Follow for updates.

Teri Radichel | © 2nd Sight Lab 2023

About Teri Radichel:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
⭐️ Author: Cybersecurity Books
⭐️ Presentations: Presentations by Teri Radichel
⭐️ Recognition: SANS Award, AWS Security Hero, IANS Faculty
⭐️ Certifications: SANS ~ GSE 240
⭐️ Education: BA Business, Master of Software Engineering, Master of Infosec
⭐️ Company: Penetration Tests, Assessments, Phone Consulting ~ 2nd Sight Lab

Need Help With Cybersecurity, Cloud, or Application Security?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
🔒 Request a penetration test or security assessment
🔒 Schedule a consulting call
🔒 Cybersecurity Speaker for Presentation

Follow for more stories like this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
❤️ Sign Up my Medium Email List
❤️ Twitter: @teriradichel
❤️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teriradichel
❤️ Mastodon: @teriradichel@infosec.exchange
❤️ Facebook: 2nd Sight Lab
❤️ YouTube: @2ndsightlab