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ZoneAlarm is a software firewall produced by Zone Labs. It includes an inbound intrusion detection system, as well as the ability to control which programs can create outbound connection - the latter is not included in the Windows XP Service Pack 2 firewall.

In ZoneAlarm, program access is controlled by way of 'zones' which the computer's network connections are divided up into. The 'trusted zone' generally includes the user's local area network and can share resources such as files and printers, while the 'internet zone' includes everything not in the trusted zone. The user can specify which 'permissions' (trusted zone client, trusted zone server, internet zone client, internet zone server) to give to a program before it attempts to access the internet (e.g. before running it for the first time) or, alternatively, ZoneAlarm will ask the user to give the program permission on its first access attempt.

Zone Labs recently announced that ZoneAlarm will no longer be supported on the Windows 98 and Me operating systems, starting with version 6.5. The company stated that Microsoft's announced end of the Extended Support phase (provision of essential security fixes) for Windows 98 and Me was the reason for this decision.

Versions

  • ZoneAlarm - the freeware version includes a web and local network firewall with outbound program control and port stealthing.
  • ZoneAlarm Pro - pop-up blocker, adware detection, identity protection, cookie blocker and process monitor
  • ZoneAlarm Antivirus - ZoneAlarm with antivirus protection in addition to the firewall features
  • ZoneAlarm Antispyware - A stripped down version of ZoneAlarm Pro: it has all the features of ZoneAlarm Pro except for the privacy and identity theft features.
  • ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite - Includes all the features of the above versions, and includes IMSecure Pro (see below) and an antispam filter engine provided by MailFrontier.
  • IMSecure - Protects supported IM clients (AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, Trillian) from viruses and accidental transmission of personal information keeps your personal ID safe, and stops virus threats. IMSecure comes in two editions, Basic and Pro, the latter coming with more security options.

Discontinued versions

  • ZoneAlarm Plus - This product was discontinued from late 2004. This was due to its having less features than ZoneAlarm Pro but selling for almost the same price.
  • ZoneAlarm Wireless Security - This product was discontinued from October 19, 2005, because its functions were included in all paid versions of ZoneAlarm from version 6 onwards.

Version 6.0 spyware controversy

In 2006, InfoWorld Senior Contributing Editor James Borck discovered that ZoneAlarm Security Suite 6.0 continued to send encrypted data to four servers even after the user had disabled all of ZoneAlarm's communications options. InfoWorld - ZoneAlarm phones home, retrieved 23rd June 2006

The current issue has caused a rumour that the Israeli government may be using ZoneAlarm to spy on people, since Check Point Software, the parent company of ZoneLabs, is an Israeli company. However "Iggy," a member of the ZoneLabs 'Team Z' help program, asserts that the rumor is incorrect Iggy Uncensored - Is the ZoneAlarm firewall spying on customers?, retrieved 23rd June 2006.

Zone Labs have since posted a press release on their website, giving instructions for users to disable the covert communications while claiming that "no personal information is shared" and "doing this will weaken their security" - although no evidence was presented to support either of these assertions.Zone Labs - How to disable ZoneAlarm server communications, retrieved 24th June 2006

References

External links

Firewall software

ZoneAlarm | ZoneAlarm | ZoneAlarm | ZoneAlarm

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Zone Alarm".

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