ZoneAlarm adds more stuff to its Free Firewall

DefenseNet updates can allow/block programs without annoying pop-ups

If you are managing a lot of computers in your home office environment, chances are you’re using a free firewall product, and it’s probably from CheckPoint’s ZoneAlarm division. If you do, there’s good news today, as the company has announced a new version with updated features and "more stuff" to consider.

The company has added its DefenseNet service (already available on its Pro versions), which analyzes malware automatically reported by ZoneAlarm’s community of millions of users. Once a new program is determined to be good or bad, the information is shared with other users through the cloud, and immediately blocks or allows without needing program alerts or interruptions.

A big problem with free firewalls and the like are the constant pop-up alerts whenever new actions are detected – with DefenseNet, those pop-ups go away without the user needing to shut down or reduce the amount of security with the product.

The free firewall from ZoneAlarm includes an inbound and outbound firewall. The outbound firewall can be useful in preventing data from being transmitted back (the "phone home" feature) should some malware slip through your anti-virus scan (and recent data suggests that 1 out of 3 new viruses are missed by AV software).

Other features of the new version includes Identity Checkup with Identity Guard, which lets users see if their identity and personal information has been exposed; protection against Trojans and keyloggers; zero-day threat protections; and protection from program hijacking and code injections. The firewall also keeps the system invisible from port scanners and vulnerability checkers.

• Check Point
• firewall
• hacking
• home networking
• malware
• personal firewalls
• security
• ZoneAlarm