Personal firewall
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A personal firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy.
A personal firewall differs from a conventional firewall in terms of scale. Personal firewalls are typically designed for use by end-users. As a result, a personal firewall will usually protect only the computer on which it is installed.
Many personal firewalls are able to control network traffic by prompting the user each time a connection is attempted and adapting security policy accordingly. Personal firewalls may also provide some level of intrusion detection, allowing the software to terminate or block connectivity where it suspects an intrusion is being attempted.
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[edit] Features
A personal firewall features:
- prevents an unauthorized user from accessing your PC, either from the Internet or from within your local network.
- blocks some Trojan horse programs and many hostile applications that seek to take over your computer.
- Automatically blocks intruders and thieves
- Hides your computer from hackers
- Automatically detects Internet attacks, like the CodeRed and Blaster worms
- Monitors and regulates all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic
- Gives you the power to decide which programs connect to the Internet
- Shields you from being attacked through security holes in unpatched software
- Prevents confidential information from being sent without your permission
- Blocks banner ads and popup windows, so you can surf faster
- New packages aimed at home users and small businesses are inexpensive and require little setup on your part.
- Provide information about the destination server with which an application is attempting to communicate
[edit] Criticisms
- Instead of reducing the number of network-aware services, a personal firewall is an additional service that consumes system resources and can also be the target of an attack, as exemplified by the Witty [1] worm.
- If the system has been compromised by Malware, Spyware or similar software, these programs can also manipulate the firewall, because both are running on the same system. It may be possible to bypass or even completely shut down software firewalls in such a manner.
- The high number of alerts generated by such applications can possibly desensitize users to alerts.
[edit] Implementations
- Comodo
- ipfirewall
- Kerio Personal Firewall
- Netfilter/iptables
- PF (firewall)
- TuxGuardian
- Windows Firewall
- ZoneAlarm
[edit] Free Firewall Software
Both Windows and the Apple OS X include limited software firewall solutions included in the operating system.
- ZoneAlarm is a popular free-standing free personal firewall.
- [Lavasoft Personal Firewall http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/lavasoft_personal_firewall.php]
- PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition
- Jetico Personal Firewall
- Comodo Firewall Pro
- Active Wall Free Edition
- Wallix Pro
- VistaFirewallControl
- Windows XP Firewall Port & Application Manager
- OnIt Professional Firewall
- NetManager Light
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Home PC Firewall Guide - Links to several personal firewall vendors and independent third party reviews.
- Samspade - A different view of personal firewalls
- Software Firewalls: Made of Straw? Part 1 and Part 2 - explanation of personal firewall design and discussion of inherent shortcomings
