Guest Martin C Posted July 24, 2007 Posted July 24, 2007 Re: firewall on budget ? Unless I have missed it, what no one has yet mentioned is that a software Firewall (I actually use ZA Free behind a NAT router) is that it is mainly there to protect against outbound problems from malware and trojans. Looking at my logs, I see nothing inbound as the router has handled all of that. I have used outbound protection tests (obtained from trusted sites) to confirm that ZA is doing its job. It has blocked all the tests I have run so far. One problem with using the firewall is that sometimes I will get alerts in the log which turn out to be just the PC talking to itself, but believing it is networked. I am not at my home PC at the moment, so I cannot remember examples. I am not sure how good the Windows firewall is at outgoing protection, so cannot comment. If you want more information, post at comp.security.firewalls, but beware as there are a lot of stroppy individuals that know their stuff, but are arrogant and abusive with the help they give. Martin "Ari" <arisilverstein@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:4vyblt37x7yw.1qet7u6fjipfz$.dlg@40tude.net... > On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 19:58:53 -0700, Beladi Nasralla wrote: > >> I have a PC built for me, and I installed Windows XP SP2 on it. I >> presume I need to put a firewall and antivirus on it to ward off worms >> and viruses. > > Kerio 2.15 free and works great.
Guest sgopus Posted July 24, 2007 Posted July 24, 2007 Re: firewall on budget ? Re: firewall on budget ? Firewalls do not stop virus, nor worms, nor malware. as an example I have both a firewall router and ZA software fire wall, and still managed to get a download trojan trying to install itself on my pc over this last weekend, fortunatly Kaspersky caught the trojan (twice) and deleted it. so be safe and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Multiple avenues for protection are better "Martin C" wrote: > Unless I have missed it, what no one has yet mentioned is that a software > Firewall (I actually use ZA Free behind a NAT router) is that it is mainly > there to protect against outbound problems from malware and trojans. Looking > at my logs, I see nothing inbound as the router has handled all of that. > > I have used outbound protection tests (obtained from trusted sites) to > confirm that ZA is doing its job. It has blocked all the tests I have run so > far. > > One problem with using the firewall is that sometimes I will get alerts in > the log which turn out to be just the PC talking to itself, but believing it > is networked. I am not at my home PC at the moment, so I cannot remember > examples. > > I am not sure how good the Windows firewall is at outgoing protection, so > cannot comment. > > If you want more information, post at comp.security.firewalls, but beware as > there are a lot of stroppy individuals that know their stuff, but are > arrogant and abusive with the help they give. > > Martin > > "Ari" <arisilverstein@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:4vyblt37x7yw.1qet7u6fjipfz$.dlg@40tude.net... > > On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 19:58:53 -0700, Beladi Nasralla wrote: > > > >> I have a PC built for me, and I installed Windows XP SP2 on it. I > >> presume I need to put a firewall and antivirus on it to ward off worms > >> and viruses. > > > > Kerio 2.15 free and works great. > > >
Guest Martin C Posted July 25, 2007 Posted July 25, 2007 Re: firewall on budget ? Re: firewall on budget ? I did not mean to imply that firewalls and routers will stop viruses and malware. That is all down to what the PC user downloads or opens. What it can do, however, is flag an alert if a trojan is trying to call home. This does not work for all trojans, but as I stated, some of the tests I have run test the firewall for this type of outgoing threat. You have to remember that you could have received a virus before the anti virus was updated to combat it. Martin "sgopus" <sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:6983A5E4-6FFB-4AD3-AC16-87E3DB9D6753@microsoft.com... > Firewalls do not stop virus, nor worms, nor malware. > as an example I have both a firewall router and ZA software fire wall, and > still managed to get a download trojan trying to install itself on my pc > over > this last weekend, fortunatly Kaspersky caught the trojan (twice) and > deleted > it. > so be safe and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Multiple avenues for > protection are better > > "Martin C" wrote: > >> Unless I have missed it, what no one has yet mentioned is that a software >> Firewall (I actually use ZA Free behind a NAT router) is that it is >> mainly >> there to protect against outbound problems from malware and trojans. >> Looking >> at my logs, I see nothing inbound as the router has handled all of that. >> >> I have used outbound protection tests (obtained from trusted sites) to >> confirm that ZA is doing its job. It has blocked all the tests I have run >> so >> far. >> >> One problem with using the firewall is that sometimes I will get alerts >> in >> the log which turn out to be just the PC talking to itself, but believing >> it >> is networked. I am not at my home PC at the moment, so I cannot remember >> examples. >> >> I am not sure how good the Windows firewall is at outgoing protection, so >> cannot comment. >> >> If you want more information, post at comp.security.firewalls, but beware >> as >> there are a lot of stroppy individuals that know their stuff, but are >> arrogant and abusive with the help they give. >> >> Martin >> >> "Ari" <arisilverstein@yahoo.com> wrote in message >> news:4vyblt37x7yw.1qet7u6fjipfz$.dlg@40tude.net... >> > On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 19:58:53 -0700, Beladi Nasralla wrote: >> > >> >> I have a PC built for me, and I installed Windows XP SP2 on it. I >> >> presume I need to put a firewall and antivirus on it to ward off worms >> >> and viruses. >> > >> > Kerio 2.15 free and works great. >> >> >>
Guest Leythos Posted July 25, 2007 Posted July 25, 2007 Re: firewall on budget ? Re: firewall on budget ? In article <46a6f949$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net>, martinC@invalid.com says... > I did not mean to imply that firewalls and routers will stop viruses and > malware. That is all down to what the PC user downloads or opens. What it > can do, however, is flag an alert if a trojan is trying to call home. This > does not work for all trojans, but as I stated, some of the tests I have run > test the firewall for this type of outgoing threat. You have to remember > that you could have received a virus before the anti virus was updated to > combat it. Actually, a firewall with IDS services can block spreading malware outside the network to other machines. Many "Firewall" appliances can be set to remove/disallow downloading of .EXE (and others) files so that users can't download them to their desktops - allowing only admins to download them. The same is true with email - many firewall appliances can remove attachments based on file extension or type - eliminating that threat. We used a cheap NAT router to block outbound SMTP from all nodes except the house SMTP server and that stopped a couple machines that had malware with its own SMTP engine from spreading it - it was hammering the network trying to get out and showed in the routers logs, but it didn't get out. Only the house SMTP server could get out for SMTP. -- Leythos - Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. - Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist" spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
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