Security Growler For Mac

Security Growler is a minimalist status bar menu application that helps you monitor your system’s resources in order to block possible hacking attempts, or simply know who is accessing your computer.

Within the Security Growler status bar menulet, you get to see the list of monitored sources, together with the latest events. As a result, you will always have access to the information even if you manage to miss the Notification Center alerts.

Note that Security Growler can also work with Growl notification system, yet you have to manually make the necessary adjustments via the Terminal. Just visit the Security Growler project website to get details on the procedure.

Worth mentioning is that the Security Growler behavior can be adjusted by editing the appropriate Python file, which means that you get to extend the list of monitored ports and connections. The utility can also be used with Prowl in order to push alerts to your iOS device.

By default, Security Growler will let you know when you are port scanned, when the sudo command is being used, or when the following connections are detected: SSH, FTP, SMB, AFP, VNC, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or iTunes Sharing.

Note that by editing the Settings.py file you can enable or disable alerts, alert channels, or adjust the update frequency. However, if you are not familiar with the Python programming language, make sure to visit the Security Growler webpage for instructions.

To sum up, Security Growler is a minimalist utility that can let you know whenever certain resources are accessed. The app functions with the notification system integrated into the OS X operating system by default, or you can opt for working with Growl.

Moreover, the Security Growler behavior and capabilities can be extended by using the Python programming language, although this can prove problematic for inexperienced users.