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List,
Seems the issue of Web security is important to all of us, and unfortunately
it doesn't leave us alone. Apologies to anybody who would prefer to not
see these questions discussed on Metastock list.
So, below is an excerpt from today's issue of Langa's newsletter
http://www.langa.com/.
Cheers, Vitaly
1) Fascinating Free Firewall Testing Tool
I've written about Steve Gibson many times: He's the guy behind the free
and excellent "Shields Up" online security checker (at http://grc.com ),
among other things.
Today (Dec 11), Steve is scheduled to release an all-new freeware
testing tool that HARMLESSLY simulates the actions of a
Trojan/Virus/Spyware program by attempting to "phone home" from your
computer in a safe and controlled way. This lets you see if your
firewall or other security tools can detect and block such actions.
Steve calls the new program "LeakTest." It's tiny--- just 27k.
Steve and his beta testers have tried the LeakTest on a wide variety of
firewalls and similar tools with eye-opening results. For example, in
the beta tests, the personal firewalls from Symantec/Norton and Sygate
should have been able to prevent LeakTest from making an outbound
connection--- but did not!
On the other hand, ZoneAlarm ( http://www.zonealarm.com ) detected and
stopped LeakTest every time, even when the Leaktest program was renamed
to make it appear to be a trusted app to which you'd already given
outbound-connection permission!
Steve isn't 100% certain when LeakTest will be officially released,
although today is the target date. Try the main page first (
http://grc.com ) and look for LeakTest. If it's not there, then the
pages developed during the beta phase probably will still be available.
They include the general information pages at
http://grc.com/su-firewalls.htm#leaktest and the download page at
http://grc.com/files/leaktest.exe .
There's also a firewall/LeakTest discussion group available at
http://grc.com/x/talk.exe?cmd=xover&group=freeware.Leaktest&utag=
If you use a firewall or ANY OTHER KIND of connection-security tool, add
LeakTest to your arsenal to make sure you're protected from invisible
"back-channel" attacks. (For "front end" attacks, use the security
testing tools at ShieldsUp ( http://grc.com ) and
http://www.dslreports.com .) Once you've tested your firewall or other
security tool from the front *and* the back, you'll then know, for sure,
whether you're protected or not!
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