To all Window users

[mikeymike]

Anyway, the hole has been fixed. Why even bring it up?

/me shakes his head...

Right.  Go to www.securityfocus.com and search for the number of issues about ZoneAlarm in the past.

And AFAIK no other firewall has been quite so lame as to not withstand a portscan.  It's like the first thing anyone would do to try and get into your system.  Consider also that firewalls have been around a lot longer than ZoneAlarm, it's not like ZA is doing anything cutting-edge.  If they can't even cater for something so basic as that, then the rest of their code is likely to be very scary indeed.

ZoneAlarm was not anywhere the first on the market.  There are tonnes of other firewalls available out there, hardware or software ones, which have been around longer than ZA.  None have vulnerabilities as embarrassing as ZA's.

Ask anyone who knows anything about computer systems security whether they think ZA is any good, and they'll laugh.  Like this: :roflmao:

Your system's first line of defence needs to be a good one.  The worst thing that can happen is for the first line of defence to be the cause of a system compromise.

[Ilwrath]

Right. Go to www.securityfocus.com and search for the number of issues about ZoneAlarm in the past.

Thanks for bringing some sanity to this, mikeymike.

Ok, there are a few things with ZoneAlarm, but looking over the securityfocus reports, I saw 4 actual reports on ZA in the past 10 months.  (As far back as I felt like clicking)  

I still don't see why ZA isn't secure for a basic home user, though.

1 was the SMTP exploit.  No home user should be running SMTP.  And if you're advanced enough you know how to securely configure SMTP, why the heck are you running a basic home-user firewall?

1 exploit wasn't remotely accessible.  Gee, if I can walk up to the home computer, I can probably do a lot more harm than bypassing the firewall.

So, honestly, two legitimate exploits in 10 months.  I wouldn't say ZoneAlarm looks much worse than Symantec Internet Security, or most any other PERSONAL firewall.  My argument is that they ALL offer a good base of protection if properly maintained and configured.  But, of course, don't get any false sense of confidence that ANY software is invulnerable. Even the best written software is going to get hit now and then.  (Witness recent SSH exploits surfacing.)

The lesson should be that NO product is perfect.  Make sure it's configured properly, and keep up to date with the patches and be wary of anything that seems amiss with a system.  This should be done no matter what software or OS you have.  :-)

Ask anyone who knows anything about computer systems security whether they think ZA is any good, and they'll laugh.

Odd... most sysadmins I know still recommend it.  It's a simple and basically secure package at a very reasonable price.

[Glaucus]

Right. Go to www.securityfocus.com and search for the number of issues about ZoneAlarm in the past.

I did, and found some vulnerabilites, but same goes for all other firewalls. Haven't found a perfect one yet. The important thing to note is that these bugs are fixed, and some vulnerabilities aren't even real vulerabilites.

This article defends ZA, and the author still considers it to be one of the best firewalls on the market. A far cry from your "poor product" statement. After reading bit of SecurityFocus I'm still convinced that ZA is better then BlackIce and Norton's personal firewall. ZA is the only firewall I know of that can prevent spyware and bots from accessing the net, and that's pretty significant if you ask me.

And AFAIK no other firewall has been quite so lame as to not withstand a portscan.

Now you're really getting silly. My system shows up as stealth, and I've tested it using Gibson Research Center's Shields Up security tool. My system passed with flying colours on all tests, and that was before I got the hardware firewall installed. Not bad for a firewall that's so lame it can't withstand a simple portscan! :roll:

ZoneAlarm was not anywhere the first on the market. There are tonnes of other firewalls available out there, hardware or software ones, which have been around longer than ZA. None have vulnerabilities as embarrassing as ZA's.

Perhaps it's because the vulnerabilties you've so far described don't exist?!? Hey, I have no loyalty to ZA, and if you can actually point me to some real hard evidence I'll be more then greatful, but so far you've given me nothing but nonsense.

  - Mike

[jeffimix]

GreggBz:

Well, one thing I can't statnd (about netscape) is when you right click on a tab to close it, Close Other Tabs is right next to Close Tab, and I always end up picking the wrong one and all my tabs disapear.

Yeah, I've learned theh ard way to right click and hit 'c' on the keyboard to avoid that, works well. Maybe your missing it when you don't have two hands free?

[sir_inferno]

jeffimix wrote:
GreggBz:

Well, one thing I can't statnd (about netscape) is when you right click on a tab to close it, Close Other Tabs is right next to Close Tab, and I always end up picking the wrong one and all my tabs disapear.

Yeah, I've learned theh ard way to right click and hit 'c' on the keyboard to avoid that, works well. Maybe your missing it when you don't have two hands free?

well he would be when he goes to porn  :lol:

[that_punk_guy]

I used ZoneAlarm for a few weeks. It's horrible, I really don't understand how it has gained such support. Even the parts the user gets to see, suck beyond belief. Configuration sucks, it's just really, really poo.

It's crap.

It's just... not very good. At all.

It bites ass.

[cecilia]

I'd be glad to give you a personal demo of it!
 :knuddel:

[that_punk_guy]

cecilia wrote:
I'd be glad to give you a personal demo of it!
 :knuddel:

Ass biting?

:nervous:

[cecilia]

that_punk_guy wrote:

cecilia wrote:
I'd be glad to give you a personal demo of it!
 :knuddel:

Ass biting?

:nervous:

That too!!!
 :banana:

[Martyn]

that_punk_guy wrote:
I used ZoneAlarm for a few weeks. It's horrible, I really don't understand how it has gained such support. Even the parts the user gets to see, suck beyond belief. Configuration sucks, it's just really, really poo.

Hhhmmm.  I LIKE ZA's interface!  Have you used Norton Personal Firewall?  As well as being useless AS a firewall, it's UI is horrific.

I'm a ZA fan, it's done a mighty fine job for me for the past six months or so.

Martyn.

[NightShade737]

The best free Firewall available is Kerio Personal Firewall, it is alot more powerful than ZA and alot more customizable too.

[Martyn]

NightShade737 wrote:
The best free Firewall available is Kerio Personal Firewall, it is alot more powerful than ZA and alot more customizable too.

Thanks for the heads-up, that looks pretty good on paper, I'll download it and give it a go.

While searching for some info about it, I found this great comparison, maybe some people will find it helpful.

Here

[sumner7]

@martyn

Who is that woman in your avatar?

[Martyn]

My misses.

[odin]

She looks quite menacing :-).

[Glaucus]

Martyn wrote:

NightShade737 wrote:
The best free Firewall available is Kerio Personal Firewall, it is alot more powerful than ZA and alot more customizable too.

Thanks for the heads-up, that looks pretty good on paper, I'll download it and give it a go.

While searching for some info about it, I found this great comparison, maybe some people will find it helpful.

Here

Well, it does seem like Kerio is a decent FREE firewall. The comparison chart provided only included the free version of ZA, which is unfortunate as the Pro version has a lot more features then the free version. I also wouldn't take the final score too seriously as the best of the free firewalls seems to be Outpost FREE, yet it failed 3 of the leak tests!

Btw, I'm gonna download those leak tests and try them out. I've already tried the one from grc and my ZA Pro 2.6 passed without problem.

  - Mike