A Quest?on about ZoneAlaRm

JaZCaLiBuR · Post by **JaZCaLiBuR** » Sun Mar 19, 2000 6:29 pm

One of the features of ZoneAlarm is the "Internet Lock" which claims to halt all internet traffic. Excuse me if I sound stupid, but how can a software firewall stop your hardware(modem, ethernet card) from sending and recieving data?

XT · Post by XT » Sun Mar 19, 2000 9:16 pm

I don't know how it works, but I can tell you that it does! It prolly works by simply shutting down the modem.

You can test it by partially letting a page (like this one) load up, then press either Lock or Stop.....and you'll get a browser dialog that says cannot connect, blah blah.

Good luck

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Sun Mar 19, 2000 10:34 pm

Not a stupid question. All hardware uses some software to work! Hardware all by itself is just that. A bunch of circuits & solder & transistors & resistors & switches. It can't do anything w/out software. And neither can your telephone in the kitchen cause it depends upon software at the phone company. The adapter for the NIC is software aka "firmware"(software that runs hardware.
Modems work the same way, software dependant.

------------------

Coming soon to a desktop near you!

JaZCaLiBuR · Post by **JaZCaLiBuR** » Tue Mar 21, 2000 12:27 am

Wow, Good to Know, Thanx XT & Tony

Post by **Philip** » Tue Mar 21, 2000 12:44 am

Different programs used on the Net use different ports (65535). For example, by default FTP uses 21, Web Servers use 80 Mail - 110 and so on... Simple firewalls close most ports and allow you to configure what ports, therefore what programs can send/receive packets. Some firewalls even inspect every packet to make sure it comes from the right address, others have alerts set allowing you to track intruders on certain ports etc...

When you think about it, to completely secure a system you'd have to close all ports, disabling all network applications,

or unplug it.

Moved topic to the Security Forum.