BlackIce is NOT a firewall!

[MacGyver]

All of you who defend Network ICE's BlackICE Defender, please be advised that the software developers have stated that this software is not a firewall, but an "intrusion detection system!"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19469.html

apparently Mr. Steve Gibson of www.grc.com (http://www.grc.com) has ruffled quite a few feathers with his article on DoS attacks. Including MS. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Tazdrummer]

Originally posted by MacGyver:
<STRONG>All of you who defend Network ICE's BlackICE Defender, please be advised that the software developers have stated that this software is not a firewall, but an intrusion detection system!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19469.html

apparently Mr. Steve Gibson of www.grc.com (http://www.grc.com) has ruffled quite a few feathers with his article on DoS attacks. Including MS. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

I read that too about Mr Gibson's talking about how Windows XP is gonna make the internet unstable. VEEEERRRY interesting!!!
Makes me wanna rush out and reserve my copy of Windows XP and stand at the computer store like the kid on the Nintendo Pokemon Stadium game commercial...

Is it here yet? Is it here yet? Is it here yet? <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[ephmynus]

Ahh the way I figure it is if I buy XP I am getting just a little very rough toilet paper and a very expensive frisbee for my cat. Why not just look in the trash and pick out about 15 aol cd's. Anyhow, I never really considered black ice to be a firewall but it is a very good alert program to let you know what actually goes on all day that you can't see.

[Wayward Clam]

The problem is not that you or I are going to make the double blunders of not having a real firewall and using Windows XP.

The problem is that your grandmother, Timmy the AOL H4X0R, the entire staff of Best Buy, and Big Bubba Redneck are all going to do these two things in every town in the US and all over the world.

Then, even us smart cookies won't be able to operate when some doofus decides he wants to DDOS DriverGuy off the net.

Microsoft are the people who SHOULD be solving this problem. They aren't the ones who are GOING to; I think after a few years of internet chaos, the government is going to FORCE the various ISPs to implement protections because they won't do it on their own. In the interim, Microsoft will have designed three more versions of Windows that worsen the problem even further and started saturating the market with them.

[WesFlash]

According to MS response on Tech Net, there is some sort of firewall going into WinXP. The default setting of having this on is not talked about at all. Matter of fact, after I read the response, I left feeling that MS will default a bunch of good things off to help protect users. Not trying to say that MS can make security products, but a good attempt is in order, not a "It's in there" response. Evading the question at hand is poor work on their part. If they can fix it, then do it and don't skirt the issue. If the post would have said "by default, WinXP has a rudimentary firewall leaving your computer unseen on the internet enabled for our users protection" then I'd finally say that MS just slapped everybody in the face that condemned them for making WinXP.

[Wayward Clam]

Originally posted by WesFlash:
<STRONG>If the post would have said "by default, WinXP has a rudimentary firewall leaving your computer unseen on the internet enabled for our users protection" then I'd finally say that MS just slapped everybody in the face that condemned them for making WinXP.</STRONG>

That's a good point, and I commend you for looking it up and posting it here. However, I wouldn't believe that the M$ product would function to prevent the upcoming troubles until Steve Gibson or a similar authority had tested it and found it clean.

[WesFlash]

I am sure BlackIce is a good product, but I have never had reason to use it as I have been satisfied with competing products. Microsoft could benefit from the popularity of Mr. Gibson's writing by quickly putting a firewall of some sort into the default installation of WinXP. Since MS wants everyone to sign in to activate their new OS, then why not realize that when Bill G. started talking up the net, he wasn't smoking something he shouldn't and that his vision of things and their needed parts are what MS WILL provide it's customers. Right now, they supply something useful in many areas of the net except protection. MS needs to buy up, and integrate some company's firewall and/ or virus protection software and pronto. MS could get good press from point out that ney-sayers are wrong, like showing that Steve Gibson had it all wrong.....right after MS added this new feature. Speaking of that, had anyone ever heard of ANY firewall software at all in WinXP during the betas? I never did, and I think that if anyone reads the Register that they will have seen how even Outlook XP can dupe people into letting e-mail viruses run amok. This, coming from the same company that wants you to think that they play no part in causing the problem. Ok, since none of the big players say they are in any way responsible to help protect the internet, MS, ISP's, and everyone in between, we must rely on someone wanting a computer who needs AOL to tell them how to operate a mouse to KNOW that they need something else.......please, somebody listen to Mr. Gibson before his dirty little secret that you don't want people to know of becomes a reality. If you want to know what it will be like, talk to PSInet customers who had problems recently in California when one of PSI's buddies said that their network traffic could not go through theirs. Rolling blackouts will be nothing in comparison.
Oops, I am so terribly sorry if the dark future offends anyone.......but it looks very plausable right now without a big change somewhere.

[WesFlash]

Here is a link to the outlook duping people into letting e-mail viruses spread. The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/19192.html)

[NakedMessiah]

BlackIce still blocks alot of the stuff, and lets you know about every little thing it seems. I really think zone alarm is not a fire wall either. I have seen too often examples of people getting right through w/o zone alarm detecting. I don't understand why we fool with these software firewalls anyway.

[Joker1]

the problem is these programs are made to be simple, but setting up a firewall is not supposed to be easy. this is another one of those things that the industry is trying to sell to the masses. i recommend getting a real firewall like atgaurd.

[Stalemate]

I'Ve used Zone Alarm, Tiny Personal Firewall, Norton and am currently using BlackIce Defender.

It does what it was designed to do - display information on accesses made to a personal PC - and it does it very well. Like similar products, it is intended for high speed connections used from the home.

If businesses (or power users) use these thinking they will completely protect their system they are sadly mistaken.

My recommendation for the latter type of user: use a firewall "appliance" or Firewall1 from Checkpoint.

[KINGofBLEH]

MAC, you are correct that BlackICE is not a firewall. However it is a MOST EXCELLENT intruder detection system. And it does provide and option to block each intruder for an hour, a day, a month or forever.

I've had no complaints.

Originally posted by MacGyver:
<STRONG>All of you who defend Network ICE's BlackICE Defender, please be advised that the software developers have stated that this software is not a firewall, but an "intrusion detection system!"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19469.html

apparently Mr. Steve Gibson of www.grc.com (http://www.grc.com) has ruffled quite a few feathers with his article on DoS attacks. Including MS. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

[ilovetheusers]

I've used it quite a lot a few years back. I quite liked its features that grabbed the info about the attackers. Of course, most of the support staff at the ISP's I sent info to notifying them of the attempted hack or scan would up being useless. I have a letter from a Bellsouth support member telling me to include the properties of the e-mail I had received when telling them that I was on MIRC and someone maliciously sent me the life stages virus and here is the IP and MAC of the individual. In another instance I was able to get the IP of the individual who sent me the same virus (there was a whole group of guys trying to infect anyone they could) and I nuked him and watched him drop out of the room (so satisfying). People really seem to rip on Blackice a lot and it does have its quirks, but I’ve found it to be quite a useful tool.