jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Sat Nov 24 09:18:40 CST 2007
Rocky, I don't pretend to be a security expert. Therefore all I can do is talk about what I like and why. The Comodo firewall is good and getting better. It is free. It has now added in a new layer which watches for the nasties trying to load and also the nasties trying to hook in to or manipulate already loaded applications. This is a very common practice, even with the non-nasties. Outlook hooks into Firefox or IE to display web pages. So if an "application" tries to use another application, is it normal or a nasty? If something tries to load, is it a normal known app or a nasty? There are already firewalls out there, there are already app monitors. Some are good, some are not so good, some are useless. Unfortunately given the very real importance of such things, I am not finding a good site dedicated to testing firewalls and keeping those tests up to date. I find tests for Comodo's firewall but they are from Sept 2006. That is well over a year ago and are the results valid today? As we know from the Microsoft debacle, bug fixes can break things so any firewall developer can fix a bug and break something else. We really need some place that tests each firewall / version at LEAST every few months. Well if there is one I can't find it. Anyway, Comodo is a company that I trust and I like their philosophy. They are in the business of selling security certificates, and they profess to believe that trust is the most critical aspect of their job. They already have a background in the internet, and specifically in the security side of the internet and they are trying to leverage that knowledge into good products for the little guy to protect himself with. They are openly staking their reputation on these products, and the effect on their reputation is their payback for the work they do on these products. I just like that. They are doing a good job of staying on top of the various security issues (AFAICT) and they have added a new "layer" of security directly into the firewall application which does this monitoring of other applications. It has gotten to the point where I think this is a requirement (application monitoring), and it just seems like a good idea to have one dev team handling the whole thing rather than using the firewall from over here and the monitor from over there. Given that the nasties almost always try to use the internet for some nefarious purpose, it makes sense to me for the app monitor to be able to talk directly to the firewall should it need to. Again, just my opinion, and making the assumption that they do a good job on both sides of the security house of course. Both of these things, firewalls and application monitoring, are complicated issues which I don't understand well enough to do my own testing. I keep looking for some third party which is keeping up with such testing but I am not finding such a place. In the meantime, all I can say is, I like Comodo and I like their firewall. I have been using it for well over a year now, on all of my machines and I still recommend it highly. John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Rocky Smolin at Beach Access Software Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 8:56 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] New Comodo Firewall Looks good from the site. I'm using Sygate. I'm also behind a router firewall and have AVG going to the AV and their spyware product. Any compelling reason to switch? Rocky -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 4:47 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'; 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: [AccessD] New Comodo Firewall I have to say the new Comodo firewall, v 3.x is AWESOME. The firewall itself is great, and now they are folding in the capabilities of malware detection such as rootkits and other such goodies. If you don't use a software firewall, you should try this thing. If you use any other firewall, you should try this thing. They just keep getting better. John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.5/1148 - Release Date: 11/23/2007 7:39 PM -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com