Re: Recurrent question

In article <j5d1q1dv81ncccp11ebpqfcofnotonnehl@xxxxxxx>, me@xxxxxxxxxxx
says...
> On 11 Dec 2005 09:55:03 +0100, Volker Birk <bumens@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >Sla#s <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >> > Just use the Windows-Firewall, and that's it.
> >> Windows Firewall only blocks incoming, it does not block outgoing.
> >
> >Yes, and it's completely useless to try to block "outgoing", as you
> >can read here in my postings, together with the reasons for this and
> >some proofs.
> >
> >Yours,
> >VB.
>
> By this reasoning an anti-virus program would be completely useless
> because it can't stop all viral infections.
>
> I can see your point though. There is a lot of code out there for
> defeating personal firewalls. But I think people use them for what
> they can do rather than what they can't do, because most of the time
> they do the job in hand. They are useful on laptops for example.
>
> I think one of the best uses for a rules based personal firewall is to
> interactively teach users what is happening on their computers, and
> tell them when it is happening. If you delete all the default rules
> and start from scratch, you soon build up a picture of the ports in
> use on your system, and the processes that use them. I know this
> information can be gathered in other ways, but personal firewalls
> bring it all together and allow detailed logging.
>
> Personal firewalls are popular. I think people will continue to use
> them no matter how insecure they are, or how many insecurities they
> add to the system, purely because they like them. Kerio 2.1.5 is a
> good example of that. It's easily bypassed using fragrouter, but some
> people don't seem to mind because it's unlikely to happen to them.
>

Yep, just because something isn't perfect 100% of the time doesn't mean
it's useless. And true, personal firewalls are used by millions, and I
doubt that will ever change..

--
Kerodo
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Coalition against Personal Firewalls
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  • Re: Recurrent question
    ... >> Windows Firewall only blocks incoming, it does not block outgoing. ... By this reasoning an anti-virus program would be completely useless ... information can be gathered in other ways, but personal firewalls ... them no matter how insecure they are, ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)