Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?

From: Gerald Vogt (vogt_at_spamcop.net)
Date: 02/22/05 

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:32:56 +0900

Roger, could you please update your OE, I think you are not running the
lastest version and you may be vulnerable to known security exploits.
Second please try to get QuoteFix or something similiar. Your OE does
wrap quoted text...

Roger Wilco wrote:
> How is it "less vulnerable" to have a PFW bundled with an OS as popular
> as XP? Wouldn't a certain anount of diversity be better? Aside from the
> integration with the OS being better, what else is there about the XP
> firewall that makes it better?

The better integration and less functionality aka less lines of codes.
The PFW does, well, everything what you could imagine. The XP SP2 FW
does packet filtering. Nothing more.

> That is what I meant - these "value-added" featues aren't really what
> firewalls are all about, and what firewalls are all about isn't covered
> by having PFW software running on the machine you hope to protect. How
> is XP's any better in this respect than any "other" PFW?

Well, these "value-added" features are integrated with the PFW. They
combine into a large complex product. These different features have
dependencies and interactions. Higher complexity is more difficult to
manage and more vulnerable to bugs. A proper design should not mix
security related functionality like the firewall protection with
anything else. A bug in some pop-up blocker of your PFW may cause to
instability of the PFW including your firewall. The IE pop-up blocker -
if you use IE - is not linked in any way with the XP SP2 FW.

It seems so nice to have a "security suite" which provides you with any
imaginable security gadget. It is useless in absolutely contradictory to
good security design which limits itself to what is actually necessary
and makes sure that this is working properly and securely...

Gerald

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?
    ... Roger, could you please update your OE, I think you are not running the ... lastest version and you may be vulnerable to known security exploits. ... > firewall that makes it better? ... The PFW does, well, everything what you could imagine. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?
    ... Roger, could you please update your OE, I think you are not running the ... lastest version and you may be vulnerable to known security exploits. ... > firewall that makes it better? ... The PFW does, well, everything what you could imagine. ...
    (alt.computer.security)
  • Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?
    ... >> security ... Why are you using Microsoft software when it is so bad? ... putting zillions of beta-state features into the firewall it seems as ... All the PFW makers do exactly what Microsoft usually does and did not do ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?
    ... >> security ... Why are you using Microsoft software when it is so bad? ... putting zillions of beta-state features into the firewall it seems as ... All the PFW makers do exactly what Microsoft usually does and did not do ...
    (alt.computer.security)
  • Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?
    ... >> security ... Why are you using Microsoft software when it is so bad? ... putting zillions of beta-state features into the firewall it seems as ... All the PFW makers do exactly what Microsoft usually does and did not do ...
    (comp.security.misc)
Quantcast