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August 14th, 2004, 02:50 AM
#1
Is Microsoft's Firewall Secure?
Is Microsoft's Firewall Secure?
Some say Win XP SP2 enhancements cause conflicts, don't protect as claimed.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117380,00.asp
Security experts and vendors this week welcomed the introduction of Windows Firewall, part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), as a valuable way of protecting PCs. But while the firewall is an improvement, it falls short of the standard of protection expected of commercial firewalls, according to some industry observers.
Windows Firewall--which replaces the old Internet Connection Firewall--marks the first time all up-to-date PCs will have a firewall switched on by default, an important step in stopping the spread of viruses, according to industry analysts. However, the software suffers from two major flaws, critics say: it does not block outbound traffic, and it can be switched off by another application, possibly even by a clever worm.
Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”
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August 14th, 2004, 03:56 AM
#2
Ok..egress filtering is indeed a weakness compared to other software firewalls, and yeah other apps can kill it, but today's worms and viruses can kill just about any app. It's not what I'd call a revelation. I think the "experts" are being a little too ciritical and not giving microsoft enough credit, because let's face it. This is a HUGE step for microsoft.
Antionline in a nutshell
\"You\'re putting the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of idiots I wouldn\'t trust with a potato gun\"
Trust your Technolust
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August 14th, 2004, 03:59 AM
#3
In most cases, to "fix the Internet" for someone I only need a firewall to drop incomming packets. ICF did this good enough to "fix the Internet" for these people, and I'm confident that Windows Firewall does as good a job as this. I don't have XP or SP2, but I'd bet that it is the same and only with a different GUI. ICF could do enough management of services/ports to be useful, and I think that is all that needed to be done. Of course, I happen to use another Firewall to allow/deny applications communication on the Internet. But I think that most people wouldn't know enough to set this stuff intellegently, and if it was infact preconfigured, there would be those people who couldn't figure out why they aren't able to get the personal version of IIS from Win98 (*shudder*) working after they updated, and might just reinstall WinXP and skip SP2... (*shudder* again)
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August 14th, 2004, 04:19 AM
#4
I found that the rc2 sp2 firewall was better that the previous version because you have more control over it. I also found that if a virus got into the system and shut down WMI The firewall would get disabled. While the updates for the windows firewall brings it up to par with the average software firewall out there. It is still no more than average.
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August 14th, 2004, 04:59 AM
#5
no more than average and on by default...sounds like a step in the right direction for MS
Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”
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August 14th, 2004, 05:26 AM
#6
Hey Tedob1, I've not yet had the honor to look at this new firewall and to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. First off M$ yet again assumes one does not have a firewall product, when in fact it's been what 4 to 6 years that such products have been around from other vendors? M$ will no doubt weave this into their OS also which may render my corp firewall useless (not a good thing). M$ graced me and other like me, we have a tool to download to disable the XP service pack for 4 months (dah, I shut the autoupates off by default) but I did get the tool cause like it or not I am going to need to patch and at some point M$ will not allow me to purchase or use anything but their firewall. I think their firewall before even looking at it is about 4 years late and a few million short because the company I work for has a few million into their netwrok protection because M$ fell way short a long time ago. I simply trust vendors I've worked with for years and their products not have it shoved down my throat in a patch by M$ to promote their OS further. In short EEEeeeeks to their firewall by happy happy happy cuase I get Overtime
I believe that one of the characteristics of the human race - possibly the one that is primarily responsible for its course of evolution - is that it has grown by creatively responding to failure.- Glen Seaborg
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August 14th, 2004, 05:31 AM
#7
I don't think MS is assuming that no one has a firewall... it's obviously intended for those who don't have a firewall yet (it's turned on by default but very easy to turn off... not at all woven into the OS), it's no competition for other products (doesn't offer nearly the same functionality),...
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August 14th, 2004, 05:38 AM
#8
What shocked the piss out of me...is when I installed sp2 on a box on a domain today..and it allowed file and print sharing through the firewall, from ANY source by default. It didn't even restrict it to the local subnet. Now that's scary.
Antionline in a nutshell
\"You\'re putting the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of idiots I wouldn\'t trust with a potato gun\"
Trust your Technolust
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August 14th, 2004, 05:46 AM
#9
i could be wrong but this effort appears to me that they want to give protection to those that dont know any better while not trying to piss any more software mfgs off by eliminating a need for their products....maybe not :-)
yes overtime is good palemoon!
Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”
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August 14th, 2004, 05:50 AM
#10
Originally posted here by hogfly
What shocked the piss out of me...is when I installed sp2 on a box on a domain today..and it allowed file and print sharing through the firewall, from ANY source by default. It didn't even restrict it to the local subnet. Now that's scary.
welp! so much for the ms protecting those that dont know any better!
Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”
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