Here's some disturbing news since I use 2 types of personal firewalls in my home – a software based one by Sygate and a Router based
firewall on my Netgear DSL modem. Going by my setup, I've never been attacked by spyware or a virus in the past 2 years but I'm not counting the chicks before they are hatched.
A GERMAN SECURITY researcher has come out with a report on the state of home firewalls where its not as safe as touted by vendors. I guess its true since not all home users are technically inclined and some wrong settings would leave it vulnerable. Nonetheless, it is advisable to not leave your security perimeter to just firewalls and keep your operating system, browser and anti-virus programs constantly up to date. Read on..
Professor Stefan Wolf, of the Polytechnic University of Lippe and Hoexter, said that firewalls used with home PCs were not comparable to the powerful firewalls used in companies or public organisations. Wolf said that home firewalls often cause more problems than they solved.
He cited a recent test in the PC Professionell magazine where only one of the six firewall programs could stop an attack. Most of them were quickly switched off. Wolf said that browsers were allowed to make a connection with the internet and this meant that all a hacker had to do was target it.
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