🔧 Portmaster Privacy Firewall Configuration Guide This project showcases my ability to securely deploy and configure Portmaster, an open-source privacy firewall, across endpoints — including employee workstations and IoT devices.
It balances strong privacy protections with real-world usability, ensuring VPN compatibility (like ProtonVPN) while blocking telemetry, ads, and other unnecessary traffic.
🎯 Project Goals This configuration demonstrates my:
✅ Proficiency in configuring privacy and security tools ✅ Ability to troubleshoot DNS and firewall-related networking issues ✅ Skill in balancing privacy with day-to-day usability (e.g. VPNs, company apps) ✅ Readiness to configure endpoint protection on Windows/Linux/IoT in a business environment
🛠️ Hardened Configuration (Copy & Paste) This setup is ideal for an average user or company device. It prioritizes privacy without breaking essential functionality.
type: settings config: dns: noAssignedNameservers: true filter: blockInbound: true blockP2P: true lists: - TRAC # Ads & Trackers - MAL # Malware - DECEP # Deceptive Sites - BAD # Mixed Threats - PORN # Adult Content - VIOL # Violence - NSFWM # Not Safe for Work (Memes) - EXPERIMENTS # Experimental Lists - UNBREAK # Allow List for Stability
✅ Note: I intentionally left ForceBlockP2P and ForceBlockIncomingConnections off to prevent breaking VPNs like ProtonVPN. These can be enabled on a per-device basis if needed.
📥 Installation Options 🔗 Option 1: Download from Official Website 👉 https://safing.io/portmaster/download
Select the version for your operating system (Linux, Windows, etc.)
🖥️ Option 2: Install via Terminal (Debian-based Linux) Use these commands to install Portmaster with GUI support on Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or other Debian-based systems:
wget https://releases.safing.io/portmaster/installer/linux.sh -O portmaster-installer.sh
chmod +x portmaster-installer.sh
sudo ./portmaster-installer.sh
🧪 What This Does Installs Portmaster to /opt/portmaster
Registers it as a system service
Adds it to your application launcher
Starts automatically on boot
💡 Why It Matters This setup ensures that all apps, not just your browser, are protected by DNS filtering, firewall controls, and traffic blocking — while keeping essential services like VPNs functional.
It’s a practical solution for:
🔒 Companies that want endpoint-level privacy without enterprise firewall complexity 📡 Users who want to block trackers, telemetry, and bad connections 🧑💻 IT teams looking for lightweight, user-deployable security tools