46516
3
Verklein
Vergroot
Pagina terug
1/100
Pagina verder
User Guide
Reference
Outpost Firewall 4.0
Personal Firewall Software
from
Agnitum
Abstract
This is the complete and detailed reference to the Outpost Firewall Pro software.
For an entry-level guide, please see the
Quick Start Guide. Please note that if you are using
Outpost Firewall FREE or a version other than 4.0, then some dialogs and settings will
differ.
Copyright © 1999-2006 by Agnitum, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Part 1: For All Users..........................................................................................6
1 GETTING STARTED ...................................................................................................................................7
1.1 STARTING OUTPOST FIREWALL ..................................................................................................................7
1.2 STOPPING OUTPOST FIREWALL ...................................................................................................................7
1.3 OUTPOST FIREWALL ALERTS ......................................................................................................................8
2 AN ORIENTATION....................................................................................................................................10
2.1 THE SYSTEM TRAY ICON ..........................................................................................................................10
2.2 OUTPOST FIREWALLS MAIN WINDOW.....................................................................................................11
2.3 THE PANELS..............................................................................................................................................12
2.4 THE TOOLBAR...........................................................................................................................................15
3 SETTING UP OUTPOST FIREWALL .....................................................................................................17
3.1 BASIC INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................17
3.2 INITIAL SETTINGS .....................................................................................................................................18
3.3 SELECTING A POLICY ................................................................................................................................19
3.4 INACTIVITY TIMERS ..................................................................................................................................22
3.5 APPLICATION LEVEL FILTERING ...............................................................................................................23
3.6 COMPONENT CONTROL.............................................................................................................................25
3.7 ANTI-LEAK CONTROL...............................................................................................................................28
4 PLUG-INS....................................................................................................................................................31
4.1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................31
4.2 AD BLOCKING...........................................................................................................................................33
4.3 ACTIVE CONTENT BLOCKING ...................................................................................................................37
4.4 ATTACK DETECTION.................................................................................................................................40
4.5 E-MAIL ATTACHMENT QUARANTINE........................................................................................................46
4.6 DNS CACHE..............................................................................................................................................48
4.7 CONTENT FILTERING.................................................................................................................................51
4.8 ANTI-SPYWARE ........................................................................................................................................53
4.9 QUICK TUNE .............................................................................................................................................62
Part 2: For Advanced Users Only...................................................................64
5 ADVANCED SETTINGS............................................................................................................................65
5.1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................65
5.2 SAVING AND LOADING CONFIGURATIONS.................................................................................................65
5.3 SETTING A PASSWORD .............................................................................................................................. 66
5.4 CREATING RULES FOR APPLICATIONS.......................................................................................................67
5.5 SYSTEM LEVEL FILTERING........................................................................................................................ 69
5.6 USING MACRO ADDRESSES....................................................................................................................... 71
5.7 SETTINGS FOR A HOME OR OFFICE NETWORK...........................................................................................72
5.8 RUNNING IN ENTERTAINMENT MODE .......................................................................................................74
5.9 RUNNING IN SELF-PROTECTION MODE .....................................................................................................76
6 THE OUTPOST LOG SYSTEM................................................................................................................77
6.1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................77
6.2 OUTPOST LOG VIEWERS MAIN WINDOW.................................................................................................78
6.3 HOW TO DISPLAY LOGS ............................................................................................................................81
6.4 WORKING WITH LOGS AND FILTERS .........................................................................................................83
6.5 WORKING WITH FAVORITES...................................................................................................................... 86
APPENDIX A: CUSTOMIZING OUTPOST MAIN WINDOW..........................................................................88
LAYOUT..........................................................................................................................................................88
FILTER BY TIME ..............................................................................................................................................89
COLUMNS .......................................................................................................................................................89
GROUP BY ......................................................................................................................................................92
APPENDIX B: TYPES OF ICMP MESSAGES.....................................................................................................94
APPENDIX C: PENETRATION TECHNIQUES .................................................................................................96
APPENDIX D: TECHNICAL SUPPORT ............................................................................................................100
Welcome
Congratulations on finding and using Outpost Firewall, the most powerful yet user-
friendly personal firewall software today! Big claims for sure, but easily verified.
This User Guide is arranged in two parts. The first part is for all users, but the second part
is intended only for those users who are technically advanced.
Part 1: For All Users
Getting Started
1 Getting Started
7
1.1 Starting Outpost Firewall
Once installed, the Outpost Firewall starts automatically when Windows is loaded. Thus,
Outpost Firewall starts protecting your computer immediately before other programs can
compromise your system.
When Outpost Firewall starts, its
icon is placed in the system tray, on the right-hand end
of the Windows task bar.
If, for some reason, Outpost Firewall does not start when Windows loads, you can start it
by following these steps:
1. Click the Windows Start button and select Programs.
2. Select Agnitum.
3. Select Outpost Firewall.
4. Select Outpost Firewall.
When Outpost Firewall is running its icon is displayed in the system tray. If you do not
see the Outpost Firewall icon in the system tray, then you know that Outpost Firewall is
not protecting your computer unless you specifically set it up to run in background mode.
For more info please refer to the
3.2 Initial Settings chapter.
1.2 Stopping Outpost Firewall
Closing Outpost Firewall’s main window does not shut down the firewall. Its icon
remains in the system tray.
There are two ways to shut down Outpost Firewall:
Right-click its icon in the system tray to display the shortcut menu. Select Exit.
You can also shut down Outpost Firewall when its main window is displayed by
going to the File menu and select Exit.
Both ways close the interface and stop the firewall so Outpost Firewall is no longer
protecting your system.
When Outpost Firewall is shut down its icon disappears from the system tray indicating
that the firewall is no longer protecting your computer.
Getting Started
8
1.3 Outpost Firewall Alerts
Outpost Firewall displays alerts to notify the user of specific events and keep the user aware of
the activities performed by Outpost Firewall.
Alerts are displayed in popup boxes that automatically close in ten seconds. To keep a lengthy
alert from closing so you can read it fully, simply click anywhere in the pop-up box.
The following alerts can be displayed:
Alert Description
Outpost Firewall has detected and blocked an attack against your
system. The alert message displays the attack details.
Click Show history to see the full list of all attack reports of this
same type.
Note: This alert is displayed only when the Report detected attacks
option is selected in the Attack Detection plug-in settings dialog
box.
One of the application rules has been processed by Outpost Firewall.
Click Show history to see the full list of events.
Note: The application rule must include the Report it action for
Outpost Firewall to display this alert.
New plug-ins or plug-in updates are available for download from the
Agnitum web site. Click the link to navigate to the page with more
detailed information.
Attachment Quarantine plug-in report. This is displayed only when
the Report It option is selected for a particular attachment type.
The News section at the Agnitum web site has been updated. Click
the link to see the current security trends, Outpost Firewall updates
and news.
Getting Started
9
Outpost Log Cleaner is performing the database cleanup. This is
displayed only when the Display alerts option is selected in the Log
Cleaner settings.
Outpost Firewall automatically downloads the latest news and plug-ins announcements from
Agnitum web site and displays them when you click My Internet or Plug-Ins in the left panel
tree in the main window.
Tip: To disable this feature, right-click My Internet or Plug-Ins and clear Download Agnitum
News and/or Download Plug-Ins Information.
An Orientation
10
2 An Orientation
2.1 The System Tray Icon
The system tray is the right most part of the Windows task bar that generally looks like
this:
The blue circle with the question mark is Outpost Firewall’s icon. This icon is one of
the primary ways you can access Outpost Firewall’s many controls, settings and logs.
This icon changes with each of Outpost Firewall’s major modes so you can see which
mode is being used to protect your system at any time. These modes are covered in
3.3
Selecting a Policy chapter.
When you right-click the Outpost Firewall icon you get its shortcut menu:
The following items are available on this menu:
Show—displays Outpost Firewall’s main window.
Show Log Viewer—displays Outpost Log Viewer.
Policy—opens a sub-menu where you can change Outpost Firewall’s policy to
the following: Disable mode, Allow most mode, Rules Wizard mode, Block
most mode or Stop all mode.
Options—displays the Options dialog window.
Always on top—when selected, keeps Outpost Firewall’s current window on top
of all other windows.
About—shows the current version of Outpost Firewall and lists each module in
the package and their individual versions.
Exit—closes the GUI and stops the firewall so Outpost Firewall is no longer
protecting your system.
An Orientation
11
2.2 Outpost Firewall’s Main Window
The Outpost Firewall main window is used to monitor the network operations of the
computer and to modify the firewall settings. It is used to monitor the network operations
of the computer and to modify the firewall settings.
To display Outpost Firewall’s main window:
1. Right-click the Outpost Firewall system tray icon.
2. Select Show on the shortcut menu.
This is what the Outpost Firewall main window looks like right after Outpost Firewall is
installed:
The main window contains:
Outpost Firewall’s menu
Toolbar
Folder bar
Left panel
Information panel
Status bar.
An Orientation
12
2.3 The Panels
The left panel and information panel are similar to the left and right panels of Windows
Explorer. The left panel is a listing of the components secured by Outpost Firewall on
your computer and the information panel gives specific data about any component
highlighted in the left panel.
Here is the left panel:
Under My Internet are the items:
Network Activity—shows every application and protocol that currently has an
active connection to the Internet or LAN as well as other network activity.
Open Ports—shows your system’s open ports.
Allowed—shows the event log stats for all the applications and connections that
Outpost Firewall allowed. You can view the stats filtered for the current session,
current day or all times.
Blocked—shows the event log stats for all the applications and connections that
Outpost Firewall blocked. You can view the stats filtered for the current session,
current day or all times.
Reported—is the event log of all the attempts by applications and connections to
access the Internet or LAN that you specified Outpost Firewall to report to you.
Although the details of the logs are intended for advanced users, the above items are
important when you need to see the stats on established connections or bytes sent and
received. To view the logs in more detail, advanced users should press the Show Detailed
Log button located on the information panel of Allowed, Blocked and Reported items
(please refer to
6 The Outpost Log System chapter for more information). You can also use
An Orientation
13
the detailed statistics to make certain that Outpost Firewall is correctly configured and
functioning properly.
The Outpost Firewall setup package that you downloaded from Agnitum web site contains
some additional plug-ins. Plug-ins are independent from the primary Outpost Firewall
engine and you may install or uninstall any or all of them. You can even get third-party
plug-ins from other developers and web sites. The second part of the listing of the left
panel shows the plug-ins that are installed.
Each plug-in has its own icon in the left panel and the log of its activity is displayed in the
information panel. When Outpost Firewall is first installed the Plug-Ins list contains the
following modules:
Ads—displays the events log of all the ads that were blocked.
Content—displays the events log of all the web sites or pages that were blocked
by this plug-in and the reason why.
DNS Cache—displays the events log of the web addresses cached by Outpost
Firewall to speed up your Internet connection to those sites.
Active Content—displays the events log of the sites that had some of its active
content blocked based on the settings for Java applets, VBScript, ActiveX, and
other active content elements.
Attachment Quarantine—shows the events log of all the e-mail file attachments
that were neutralized and quarantined from your computer.
Attack Detection—shows the events log of any suspected attacks on your
computer from the Internet, the ports involved and where the attacks are from.
Anti-Spyware—shows the events log of spyware objects detected in your
system.
As with Windows Explorer, any line that starts with a plus sign (+) can be expanded to
show each of its subcomponents. In the picture above, the Network Activity line can be
expanded by clicking on the plus sign at the start of that line.
Any line starting with a minus sign (-) shows that the line has already been expanded. By
clicking on the minus sign, all of its subcomponents can be hidden so only the type of
component is displayed to conserve screen space.
An Orientation
14
Here is an example of the information panel showing some of the many types of data it
displays:
The line which has a minus sign by its side is expanded to show its individual data. To hide
this extra data, click the category’s minus sign. A line without a plus or minus sign
preceding has no extra data to be shown.
For advanced information about customizing the information panel, see the
Columns
section of the Appendix A.
As with most elements of Outpost Firewall, a right-click in the information panel opens a
shortcut menu. In the picture below, the menu is pertinent to the highlighted line. If no line
was highlighted and the right-click was over some of the white space below the lines, then
all the menu items would not be applicable and so would be grayed out.
The menu shown in the above picture is for displaying the data in the information panel in
a way that is most useful to you. This is mainly for professionals like system administrators
who need to rapidly track down some particular data. Although Outpost Firewall is easy
enough for a home computer user, it is also very sophisticated to meet the needs of
advanced users.
An Orientation
15
The choices in the menus shown above are self-explanatory to those users who would need
to use them. Outpost Firewall makes extensive use of shortcut menus for all of its
different items, categories, panels, and icons. A little experimenting will help you discover
all of them and is far more instructive than reading detailed descriptions of each item.
2.4 The Toolbar
The toolbar is close to the top of the main window and looks like this:
You can see what each button does by holding your cursor over it for a second or so.
The icon in the left end of the toolbar shows Outpost Firewall’s current policy. Clicking
on this icon gives a menu you can use to quickly change usage modes. The menu looks like
this:
Only some of the buttons are visible (active) at any one time, depending on what is
highlighted in the left panel or the information panel.
Each button on the toolbar is a shortcut to a menu item except the Update and Help
buttons. The buttons are simply an easy and direct path to their functions rather than having
to go through several different menus or dialog windows to access these same functions.
An Orientation
16
Outpost Firewall’s Toolbar Buttons
Button Function Corresponding Menu Path
Changes Outpost Firewall’s policy
Options > Policy
Starts spyware system scan.
Tools > Run Spyware System Scan
Accesses the Options dialog window
Options
Changes the listed item grouping
View > Group By
Narrows a log listing to events within
a specified time
View > Filter By Time
Enables/disables Self-protection
mode.
Tools > Enable Self Protection
Checks for an update of Outpost
Firewall’s plug-ins or components
Tools > Agnitum Update
Opens Outpost Log Viewer that
displays the logs
Tools > Log Viewer
Displays Outpost Firewall’s context
help
Help > Context Help
Setting up Outpost Firewall
3 Setting up Outpost Firewall
17
3.1 Basic Information
A firewall for your computer is like the lock on a door of your home. In most cities, we
usually lock the front door of our homes when we leave. This is not because the majority of
people are criminals or because we cannot trust our neighbors to mind their own business.
We generally lock our doors to prevent criminal types from snooping, stealing or doing
damage.
The Internet is similar. Most web sites are unobtrusive and benign. Only a small percentage
holds any threat to our privacy. However, because there are such a huge number of Internet
users, even a small percentage of them with an impulse to vandalize adds up to a very
significant number of people. For this reason, leaving your computer unprotected is just not
prudent.
Outpost Firewall is engineered to detect a suspicious connection. It is recommended that
you keep the firewall in Rules Wizard mode for several days use. Rules Wizard is the
easiest for you to use if you are unfamiliar with how firewalls work.
NOTE: If you have any doubt or confusion about changing any default setting, it is
recommended that you DO NOT MAKE THE CHANGE. Even if you do understand
the change, it is advisable to save or record the setting before changing it.
When Outpost alerts you of a suspicious connection request from an application on your
computer or from the Internet, it gives you some information about the request, such as the
DNS or IP address of the remote computer, the application making the request and other
data to help you decide if you want to allow the connection or not. If in doubt, simply
disallow the connection this one time. See what happens. If you are prevented from doing
something you wanted to do, then just try doing it again and this time allow the connection
when prompted. In this way, you can learn what your applications are doing and which
ones you need to be careful of or even uninstall completely from your system. It will also
alert you to the presence of a Trojan horse.
Note: A good rule of thumb when using Outpost is to keep the settings Outpost suggests
if you do not have a particular reason and the knowledge to change them.
In Outpost Firewall an access setting is basically a rule that you set regarding how much
of your information you want to let other computers access or how much information you
want to allow other computers to send to yours.
Outpost Firewall uses various security settings to keep your computer protected from
unwanted access from other computers on the Internet or any type of network connection.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
18
It also restricts the flow of information coming into your computer as you see fit. You
might set a rule about file sharing, for example, so that your computer shares your files
only with other computers you trust on your local network. A common use for a firewall is
to restrict the amount of information your computer gives out while it is connected to the
Internet.
3.2 Initial Settings
Outpost Firewall is ready for operation as soon as it is installed. Its default settings are
more than adequate for most purposes and are recommended until you become fully
acquainted with how Outpost Firewall operates. Once you are familiarized, you can
customize Outpost Firewall in many ways to best suit your particular needs.
This section gives a brief overview on how to customize the system. You can change these
settings at any time.
To display the Outpost Firewall settings dialog window, right-click the Outpost Firewall
system tray icon and select Options from the shortcut menu:
The settings dialog looks like this:
The first section is Startup. This lets you choose the startup mode for Outpost Firewall.
The default startup mode is Normal, which loads Outpost Firewall automatically at boot-
Setting up Outpost Firewall
19
up and displays its icon in the system tray. Select Background if you want Outpost
Firewall to run in invisible mode, without its system tray icon or any of its dialog
windows. This option is provided for two reasons: to save system resources and for a
parent or systems administrator to block unwanted traffic or content in a way that's
completely hidden from a user. If you do not want Outpost Firewall to run automatically at
startup, select Disabled.
The Miscellaneous area of the dialog is where you can select Minimize to System Tray to
not have a button placed on the task bar for Outpost Firewall’s main window whenever it
is minimized. Instead of this, to see Outpost Firewall’s main window, simply double-click
Outpost Firewall’s system tray icon or right-click it and select Show.
If Minimize main window on close is selected, then whenever you click the close button
only Outpost Firewall’s main window will be closed, not the firewall. In this case, to
shutdown Outpost Firewall, right-click Outpost Firewall’s system tray icon and select
Exit.
The Password protection section lets you select to have your Outpost Firewall settings
protected by
password so only you can change its configuration.
3.3 Selecting a Policy
One of the most useful and important features of Outpost Firewall is its usage modes. A
usage mode is the basic attitude you want Outpost Firewall to have in doing its job of
policing your computer’s access to and by the Internet or any other network your computer
may be connected to. The usage mode of Block most, for example, gives Outpost
Firewall a particularly strict attitude but Allow most makes Outpost Firewall very
trusting.
Here are the different usage modes:
Icon Mode Description
Stop all
All network connections are blocked.
Block most All network connections are blocked except those you explicitly allowed.
Rules Wizard The first time each application is run, allows you to determine how an
application will interact with the network.
Allow most All network connections are allowed except those you explicitly blocked.
Disable All network connections are allowed.
The icon shown for each mode is what is displayed in the system tray as the Outpost
Firewall icon. You can tell at a glance what mode Outpost Firewall is in by looking at its
system tray icon.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
20
When Outpost Firewall is installed, the default mode is Rules Wizard mode. This mode
helps you decide whether an application should be allowed a network connection. Rules
Wizard facilitates the specifying of applicable network parameters for each type of
application.
Although during the installation process Outpost Firewall creates the rules for
applications already installed on your system, it might miss a few uncommon programs so
at this point Rules Wizard mode makes your life a little easier. Instead of having to create
a new and often complex rule each time a new application is run, Rules Wizard does the
work for you by basing its presets on all well-known applications. Rules Wizard even
recommends the best selection for you. Unless you know of a better choice, simply okay
Outpost’s recommendation.
Here is the Rules Wizard dialog window that pops up whenever a new application
requests a network connection:
Outpost Firewall has a database of the most commonly used applications. Our engineers
programmed the optimum settings for each type of application so the decisions you have to
make are very few.
The Outpost Firewall system groups applications into three groups.
Blocked—distrusted applications for which all connections are blocked.
Partially allowed—applications granted limited network access by having their
protocols, ports and directions specified by policies (rules).
Trusted—applications for which all connection requests are allowed.
In the picture of the dialog window above, you can see what application is requesting an
outgoing connection, “Internet Explorer”, what manner of access is being attempted, the
basic parameters of the connection and the choices you can make regarding the request.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
21
The choices you can make for an application in Rules Wizard mode are as follows:
Choice Purpose Result
Allow all activities for
this application
For applications you trust
completely.
All network requests by this application are
allowed and the application is given the status
Trusted application.
Stop all activities for
this application
For applications that
should not be allowed
network access
All network activities for this application are
disabled. The application is given the status
Blocked application.
Create rules using
preset
Restrict access for
applications that interfere
with network under
specific protocols, via
specific ports, etc.
Creates a rule for the application that limits
network access to specific ports and protocols
using presets designed by our engineers that are
optimum for most purposes. This application
will be included in the Partially allowed
applications list.
Allow once For applications that you
are doubtful of but want
to see what they do with
the connection.
Data from specified local port to specified
remote port and address is allowed during this
single communication. The next time this
application tries to establish a network
connection, this same dialog window appears.
No rule is created for the application.
Block once For applications that you
do not trust but do not
want to block totally.
Data from specified local port to specified
remote port and address is blocked during this
single communication. The next attempt by this
application to establish a network connection
results in this same dialog window. No rule is
created for the application.
Outpost Firewall will detect most of the applications that regularly access the network
after working a day or so in Rules Wizard mode. Once Outpost Firewall has registered
most of your applications, you can switch to Block most mode.
You can also create your own rule for an application rather than select one of the presets.
To create a rule, click the down arrow at the right side of the Create rules using preset
pull down. Select Other from the drop-down list and click OK. This brings up the Rules
dialog where you can create any rule for this application.
Note: In the case when some application requests the connection to the server that has
several IP addresses, Outpost Firewall automatically detects all server addresses and
configures corresponding rules for all server IP addresses according to the action you
specify.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
22
Note: Outpost Firewall Pro can perform on-the-fly spyware scan of the processes requiring
network access for which no rules exist and display the result in the Rules Wizard window
header. For details, see the
Anti-Spyware section.
Rules Wizard is not supported when Outpost Firewall is run in background mode as that
mode is designed to run without user interaction.
If you select Rules Wizard and then try to run in background mode, you will need to
choose another policy for Outpost Firewall to use instead of Rules Wizard. Click on the
Policy tab in the Options dialog box, then click on the Advanced button and select the
policy in the displayed dialog:
3.4 Inactivity Timers
Outpost Firewall can act as a “screen saver” for your system’s network activity and block
all network communications and traffic when the system is idle. This feature can help
protect your system from unauthorized access when you’re not controlling it, or help
prevent applications on your system from consuming network bandwidth when you’re not
using your computer. To configure the inactivity timers, go to the Tools menu, click
Options and click Advanced on the Policy tab.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
23
You can either choose to block all network traffic upon activation of your Windows
screensaver, or you can specify the inactivity interval, after which network access is
blocked.
3.5 Application Level Filtering
One of Outpost’s most important features is application level filtering. This lets you decide
which applications should have access and which should not.
The dialog window to control applications is accessed by right-clicking the system tray
icon, selecting Options and then the Application tab.
This is the Application dialog window:
Outpost Firewall divides all applications into three categories:
Blocked—all activity of this group is blocked. We recommend that you add to this
group all applications that do not need Internet access, such as text editors,
calculators, etc.
Partially Allowed—Outpost Firewall allows access to the Internet for these
applications based on the rules that were created by you manually or from presets.
Only the specified application activity is allowed. We advise that you put most of
your applications in this group.
Trusted—all activity for these applications is allowed. It is not recommended that
you include an application in this group unless you trust it absolutely.
There is no need to add your applications to these groups manually. Rules Wizard
automatically does this for you.
You can change an application’s status between Blocked, Partially allowed, and Trusted
at any time. Applications can simply be dragged and dropped from one category to another.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
24
You can also directly add an application by dragging its icon from Windows Explorer or
your desktop into the Options > Application dialog or by clicking on the Add button, then
browsing to the location of the application’s .exe file and clicking on the Open button. If
the same application is already listed in another category, it will be deleted from that other
category.
The Edit button lets you change any of the detailed settings for whatever application is
highlighted.
Whenever an application is dragged to the Partially allowed applications category of the
Options’ Application tab, or is in any other way added to this category, the following
dialog box with its list of rules is displayed:
Using this dialog, advanced users have full control of each of the different protocol settings
by highlighting any one of these and pressing the Modify button. This is covered in detail
in
5.4 Creating Rules for Applications.
A simpler approach is to use the Preset button to select the general type of application that
best applies. The settings for these presets were designed by our engineers and are optimal
for most purposes. Even advanced users are recommended to use these presets and then
later tweak their settings as needed. In using the Rules dialog, an empty check box in the
list of rules means that rule will not be applied.
Note: It is possible to create several different rules for the same application. Be aware that
Outpost Firewall uses the first instance of a rule that has criteria matching the
application’s activity and ignores all subsequent ones. The firewall rules are processed in
the order in which they are listed. Once a rule is matched, searching of the rules list stops.
Any other rules that match this type of communication are ignored, if they are further on
the list than the first rule that matches. The buttons Move Up and Move Down are used to
change the sequence of rules so you can determine which rule Outpost will use. If no rule
is found, Outpost Firewall displays the Rules Wizard dialog or simply blocks the
Setting up Outpost Firewall
25
connection, depending on whether you are running Outpost in Rules Wizard or Block
Most mode.
Clicking the Preset button in the above dialog gives you choices that look like this:
The choices on the Preset list will very likely be added to as time goes on or otherwise
modified. This will be included in any updates of the Outpost Firewall software as was
covered earlier. For advanced information about rule creation, see
5.4 Creating Rules for
Applications.
3.6 Component Control
Not only does Outpost Personal Firewall monitor applications, but it also monitors the
components of each application. So, when a module of an application has changed and the
application is about to establish a connection, Outpost Firewall will ask you whether it
should be allowed. The purpose of this Component Control is to make sure components
are not fake or malicious. Some Trojan horses can be inserted as modules of legitimate
applications (for example, your browser is made up of many separate parts) and thus gain
the privileges needed to go online. Outpost Firewall allows you to set the desired
Component Control level
by clicking the Components button on the Applications tab of
the Options dialog window:
Setting up Outpost Firewall
26
Clicking this button displays the following dialog window:
Select the desired component control level from the following options:
MaximumOutpost Firewall will monitor all components that are being
registered to be part of a legitimate application. It is recommended that you use
this option only when you suspect an unknown malware to exist in your system
because this option may seriously impact on your system performance.
NormalOutpost Firewall will monitor all new components as they are being
registered to be a part of an application yet are not located in the application folder.
This option is suitable for most cases and provides a balance between security and
performance.
Low—the same as Normal but in this case Outpost Firewall Pro will not warn
about every changed or added application component, but will warn only about
executable files. It is recommended to use this option instead of completely
disabling Component Control to keep the minimally necessary security level.
Disabled—Turns Component Control off. This option is only recommended when
you experience significantly reduced performance, crashes or other errors that lead
to system instability. Turning Component Control off severely reduces your
system’s security level.
There are a number of components in each system that are always used by more than one
application. Two examples are: Windows system libraries and common language runtime.
Such components are typically trusted because it is known that they don’t impose a threat;
moreover, they are often used by many applications, and monitoring all these common
components takes up a lot of system resources and reduces performance.
To optimize component control performance, Outpost Firewall supports the Shared
Components list to which you can add trusted components intended for use by more than
Setting up Outpost Firewall
27
one application. By default, all components located in the Windows installation folder and
its subfolders are added to this list after you install Outpost Firewall. Click Edit list to
add or remove components.
After you install a service pack, or other massive software update that affects a large
number of common components, it is recommended that you rebuild the common
components database so that Outpost Firewall is aware of the changes made to your
system configuration.
Note: After you click Rebuild database, all information about components that are
manually added or modified will be lost.
You can also view the components Outpost Firewall monitors for each application by
selecting the application from the list, selecting Edit > Modify Rules and clicking the
Components button:
Setting up Outpost Firewall
28
Tip: In a Rules Wizard prompt for the changed component, shared components are marked
red and components of a specific application are marked green.
3.7 Anti-Leak Control
There are several advanced penetration schemes that allow malicious software to bypass
the security perimeter of a PC. Outpost Firewall Pro provides proactive security
functionality called Anti-Leak Control that blocks all currently-known penetration
techniques that are often used by malicious programs to bypass firewall software (for
details, see
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques). This prevents sensitive data leakage
from individual PCs, gives more control over what’s happening on a PC, and alerts you to
spyware programs that use sophisticated techniques to hide themselves. However, some of
these techniques can be used by legitimate applications in their regular activity, so it is
necessary to be able to flexibly control them as simply blocking the activity can affect
system stability and interrupt user work.
To enable Anti-Leak Control, click Options on the toolbar, select the Application tab,
click the Anti-Leak button, and select the Enable Anti-Leak Control check box. The
available settings allow you to configure which actions all applications in your system are
allowed to perform. All actions are divided into dangerous that are critical and most likely
will result in system instability and data leaks; and suspicious that sometimes can be used
by legitimate applications for their common activity.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
29
Select an action in the list and the right part of the window will show you the element’s
description and settings. The default setting for each action depends on the security level
you chose during installation. To allow or block a particular action globally for the system,
select one of these available options:
Prompt. Outpost Firewall Pro will prompt you each time an application tries to
perform the selected activity.
Allow. The selected activity will always be allowed for all applications on your
system.
Block. The selected activity will always be blocked for all applications on your
system.
Besides these options, you can also have utpost Firewall Pro show a visual notification
each time an action is allowed or blocked for the application, by selecting the Report
check box.
Some applications use the technology of component injection (Windows hooks) for their
common activity (Nvidia drivers, for example). If you use such applications and want to
allow them to inject components from the
shared components list into another process’s
memory, select the Allow injection of shared components check box. This setting has a
higher priority than the Prompt/Block settings for Windows hooks.
If you want to have full control over all system activity of applications installed on your
computer, clear the Allow all listed actions for network-enabled applications, otherwise
it has a higher priority than the Prompt/Block settings for all listed techniques.
Setting up Outpost Firewall
30
To individually set rules for suspicious actions from a particular application (for example,
to allow a specific application to modify the memory of other processes), click the
Exclusions tab. Click Add and browse to the application’s executable file. After clicking
Open, you will see the application in the list and will be able to specify its individual anti-
leak settings. To change the setting for the selected action, click the link in the Action
column next to the action name. The available actions are the same as for the global system
settings described above. Besides, you can set to inherit global setting for the action,
specifying the Use Global setting.
Click OK to save your settings.
Note: Any actions that are other instances of the same process are allowed. For example,
Internet Explorer can control other Internet Explorer windows.
Note: If you completely trust an application and want to allow it to perform all the listed
actions, right-click the application in the list on the Application tab and select Ignore
Anti-Leak Control. The application will be added to the Anti-Leak exclusions list with all
actions set to Allow.
Plug-Ins
31
4 Plug-Ins
4.1 Introduction
One of Outpost Firewall’s most useful and effective design strategies is the employment
of plug-ins. These modules can be created by third-party developers and easily added to
increase Outpost Firewall’s capabilities.
If you are interested in developing Outpost Firewall plug-ins, please visit
http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/developers.html for samples, tutorials and the
developer’s forum.
Please note that plug-ins are absolutely independent from each other and the main Outpost
Firewall module.
The dialog window to control these plug-ins is accessed from a right-click the system tray
icon and selecting Options and then the Plug-Ins tab. You can also access this dialog from
the main window using the menu Options, then selecting Plug-Ins Setup.
This is the Plug-Ins dialog window:
The right-side buttons are:
Add—used to add a new plug-in to Outpost Firewall using Windows’ file open
dialog.
Remove—used to delete a plug-in that is highlighted on the list.
Start—starts a highlighted plug-in that is stopped.
Plug-Ins
32
Stop—used to stop a highlighted plug-in from operating, but not to delete the
plug-in from Outpost Firewall.
Settings—used to modify any of the settings for a highlighted plug-in. The types
of settings vary with the different plug-ins.
Note: Only those plug-ins having the status of “Started” can have their settings modified.
The settings dialog for any started plug-in can also be accessed by clicking on that plug-in
in the main window’s left panel and selecting Properties on the shortcut menu. The
settings dialog for each started plug-in can also be accessed using the
button on the
toolbar of Outpost Firewall’s main window.
The Plug-In information section, in the lower half of the above dialog, shows the most
important properties of a highlighted plug-in and where, on your system, the plug-in’s .ofp
file is located.
Plug-Ins
33
4.2 Ad Blocking
More and more web sites are becoming filled with ads. With a fast connection these are
generally not a problem but often it’s nice just to surf without the distraction of blinking,
moving ads.
To change the settings of Outpost Firewall’s ad blocking, right-click the system tray icon
to get the shortcut menu, then select Options and go to the Plug-Ins tab. Click
Advertisement Blocking to highlight it and then click the Settings button to get the
following dialog:
Outpost Firewall can block the display of banner ads from certain advertisers. As the
picture shows, Outpost Firewall comes with a large list of the most common words in
Internet advertisement URLs located within the HTML tags “<IMG SRC=” and “<A
HREF=”. To add another word to the list, simply start typing it in the text field above the
list and click the Add button. Outpost Firewall replaces any banners containing one of
these words with the text: [AD-IMG].
Be sure that Block Ad content containing specific keywords is selected. Click Add to
add the new entry to the list or Modify to change it.
Plug-Ins
34
Outpost Firewall can also block all banner ads having standard sizes. To do this, select the
Image Size tab on the Options dialog. You will get the following display:
Outpost Firewall lets you block all specific sized graphic images that have a link. Be sure
to select Block images of specific size.
Immediately after installation, Outpost Firewall is set to block all images with a link
(images inside an <a tag) of 100 x 100, 125 X 125, 468 x 60, 470 x 60, 234 x 60, 120 x 80,
and 88 x 31 pixels. By default Outpost Firewall replaces the designated banners with the
text [AD] in the web page.
To add to the list of image sizes to be blocked, type in the size of the image to be blocked
and click the Add button.
Please note that Outpost Firewall blocks banner ads according to the settings you specify.
Some legitimate images could be blocked if the setting is too strict, such as adding the
word “image” to the list of blocked words. In addition, a few ads will not be blocked with
these plug-in default settings.
To allow all graphics to be displayed on the screen, clear Block images of specific size.
Outpost Firewall also allows you to specify whether to replace advertisements with text
message [AD] or with transparent images of the same size as the ad and supports the
Trusted sites list to which you can add Web sites with advertisements you do not want to
be blocked. Click the Miscellaneous tab to alter these settings.
Plug-Ins
35
Note: Some banners cannot be replaced with transparent images and will be replaced with
text messages regardless the option specified.
Modern Internet advertisements not only include graphic banners, they also use various
ActiveX objects to display advertisements. The simplest example is Macromedia Flash
movies, which are broadly used on web sites. Such advertisements consume a lot more
system resources and network bandwidth than traditional banners and are not cut off by
most standard banner removal software tools.
Outpost Firewall can block advertisements that are represented by various web page
ActiveX objects thus saving your system resources and traffic bandwidth. Select the Block
advertising objects to enable this filtering.
This way, Outpost Firewall will block such objects either when it encounters an
<OBJECT> tag—used to embed these objects into a web page—that contains any of the
specified ad keywords, or when the size of the object display area matches one of the
specified ad sizes.
All plug-in settings can be saved to a configuration file so you can reload them if you find
that any modification proved unsatisfactory, or so you can easily transfer your settings to
another computer.
Plug-Ins
36
To manage the plug-in configuration files, click the Export/Import tab in its properties
dialog.
Click Export (to save) or Import (to load) and then specify the configuration file name.
You can also download ad blocking keywords from the Outpost Forum (AGNIS list) using
the provided link.
Plug-Ins
37
4.3 Active Content Blocking
The Active Content Filtering plug-in controls the operation of the following active
elements:
ActiveX
Java applets
Programs based on Java Script and VBScript
Cookies
Pop up windows
Referrers
Hidden frames
Flash animations
Animated GIF images
Scripting ActiveX elements
Page navigation scripts
This plug-in lets you independently allow or block any of these elements that might be
contained in the web pages you are browsing.
Interactive elements treatment can be independently configured for e-mail, news and web
pages. Click either Mai1 and News or Web Pages tab and select the element type to block.
The right part of the window will show you the element description and the setting for each
selection.
Plug-Ins
38
The following settings are available:
Block—blocks the element’s action.
Prompt—asks you each time this element attempts to activate.
Permit—allows the element to function.
Note: The use of all active elements is enabled for all web pages by default.
To configure individual settings for specific web sites, select the Exclusions tab:
Click Add and type the site address (that has active content settings) that you want to
personalize and click OK.
The site that you just added is immediately given all the default active content settings.
Click Properties to change specific settings that will apply to this site only.
Note: If you want to be able to individually configure each of the sites you visit, select the
Add web sites to the exclusions list on the first visit to have Outpost Firewall display
the Host Rules Assistant window each time a web page is first visited:
Whether you select to Allow or Block all active content from the site the site will be
simply added to the exclusions list. Select Edit host settings to display the Edit
Plug-Ins
39
Properties dialog (see below) in which you can customize the specific site’s active content
treatment settings.
The site can inherit the settings from the global policy or you can assign each an individual
value.
Note: Settings that inherit default values are displayed in gray; settings that are assigned
unique values are displayed in blue.
Tip: This dialog can also be invoked by selecting a site on the Exclusions tab and clicking
the Properties button.
Some sites require that all or several of its active content elements be active for their pages
to display or function correctly. If you make the settings for all sites very restrictive, you
can experience the following problems: images not being displayed, a web page not
showing at all, a web page displayed incorrectly or some useful services contained in
applets not working. If this happens with only a few sites, just change this plug-in’s
settings for those sites by adding them to the exclusions list as described above; otherwise
you may need to loosen the default active content treatment policy.
Plug-Ins
40
4.4 Attack Detection
This plug-in informs you of a possible attack on your computer from the Internet or the
network your computer is connected to. It recommends the steps to be taken as well, in
order to prevent damage to your computer.
The
Attack Detection plug-in lets you specify the conditions in which a warning is to be
displayed. It also has response settings that will be used if a specified security level is
exceeded.
Below is the plug-in’s Options dialog window:
In the section named Alarm level, you move the slider up or down for a higher or lower
alert level:
High—an “Attack Detection” alert is displayed even if a single scanning of your
port is detected.
Normal—an “Attack Detection” alert is displayed if several ports are scanned or if
a specific port is scanned that Outpost Firewall recognizes as one that is commonly
used in attacks.
Low—an “Attack Detection” alert warning is displayed if a multiple attack is
definitely detected.
You can adjust suspicious packets threshold for each of the levels by clicking the
appropriate link. This will bring you the dialog window where you can specify the exact
number of suspicious packets that are considered as an attack.
Specify the steps Outpost Firewall is to follow if an attack on your computer is detected:
Show visual alerts when attack is detected—if selected, Outpost Firewall will
display alert message every time an attack is detected.
Plug-Ins
41
Play sound alarm
when attack is detected—if selected, Outpost Firewall will
play the specified audio file every time an attack is detected.
Block intruder IP forif selected, blocks all network exchanges from the
computer attacking yours for the number of minutes you set (60 minutes by default).
o
Also block intruder subnet—if selected, blocks all network exchanges
from the entire subnet to which the intruder belongs.
Ethernet Attacks
When data is sent from one computer to another over a local network, the sending machine
broadcasts an ARP (IP-to-Ethernet address lookup) request to determine the MAC address
based on the IP address of the target machine and waits for it to send back its MAC
address. During the time between the packet broadcast and the MAC address response, data
is vulnerable to tampering, hijacking, and/or redirection to an unauthorized third party.
Attack Detection plug-in also detects and averts particular Ethernet attacks such as IP
spoofing, ARP scanning, ARP flood and others by inspecting Ethernet and Wi-Fi
connections thus protecting your system from invasions on a local network. To specify the
Ethernet attacks prevention settings, select the Ethernet tab in the plug-in properties
window. The following options are available:
Enable smart ARP filtering. Prevents ARP spoofing - where a node starts sending
a huge number of ARP replies with varying MAC addresses in a short time span,
trying to overload the network equipment as it tries to determine which MAC
address actually belongs to the node. If enabled, Outpost Firewall Pro only permits
incoming replies from other hosts for which there was a previous outgoing request.
Only the first ARP reply is accepted for each request. Smart ARP filtering also
protects from ARP cache poisoning, which occurs when someone succeeds in
intercepting Ethernet traffic using fake ARP replies in an effort to change the
address of a network card to one that an attacker can monitor. Additionally, it
prevents ARP floods - where a huge number of bogus ARP replies are sent to the
target machine freezing a system.
Detect IP address spoofing and block IP flood. Detects when an attacker falsifies
or forges his IP address and blocks abnormal volumes of traffic which may
otherwise overload a computer. This option cannot stop the network from being
flooded but can protect the PC from overload.
Prevent gateway network adapter MAC spoofing. Detects any attempt by an
attacker to associate a gateway network adapter IP address with their own MAC
address to allow them to intercept packets. Hackers can substitute legitimate MAC
addresses with ones of their own and reroute legitimate traffic to a hacker-controlled
machine, by sending out forged ARP responses which Outpost Firewall Pro will
Plug-Ins
42
detect and block. This ARP spoofing enables hackers to be able to 'sniff' (read)
packets and view any data in transit, to direct traffic to non-existent hardware
causing delays in data transmission or a denial of service on the affected equipment.
Specialized hacker sniffing programs can also intercept traffic, including chat
sessions and related private data such as password entries, names, addresses, and
even encrypted files, by modifying MAC addresses at the Internet gateway.
Protect my IP addresses from being false reported as used. Detects cases where
two or more hosts share the same IP address. This can be due to an attacker
attempting to gain access to network traffic or block a computer from accessing the
network, but could also happen legitimately where an ISP uses multiple servers for
load-sharing. If enabled, Outpost Firewall Pro blocks ARP replies that have the
same IP (but different MAC's) and thus protects computer from the IP address
duplication consequences.
Block hosts enumerating other computers on LAN. Limits the number of ARP
requests enumerating IP addresses from one MAC address during a specified time
interval which can imply network scanning. Some massively propagating viruses
use mass host enumeration to hop from one computer to another, infecting them as
they go. This technique is also used by scanners and vulnerability analyzers.
You can also select attacks that Outpost Firewall is to detect and avert. By default Outpost
Firewall handles more than fifteen types of attacks and exploits, but you can choose to not
detect certain attack types in order to eliminate frequent false positive alert messages that
may be appearing if a service in your network, for example, acts like an attack source.
Plug-Ins
43
Click the Advanced tab of the plug-in settings dialog and then click Edit list to display the
Attacks dialog box.
Here you can select the attacks you want Outpost Firewall to detect and avert. Note that
the Advanced button displays a dialog that lets you change the settings that apply to all
attacks in the list.
Plug-Ins
44
To change the setting value, highlight the setting in the list and click its value in the right
column.
Note: Alter these settings with care since an improper attack detection configuration can
lead to significant problems with your system network connectivity.
From a security point of view TCP and UDP ports in your system are divided into several
groups according to the probability of an attacker using the port to break in. Attempt to
access ports assigned to vulnerable services like DCOM or RPC with a higher probability
is an inidication that you are being probed then access to a regular port.
However, you may have custom services assigned to custom ports that are also tempting
for an attacker. Outpost Firewall lets you create a list of such ports to which it will pay
more attention while monitoring network traffic. To manage the list of vulnerable ports,
click the Advanced tab in the plug-in settings dialog and then in Vulnerable ports click
Specify.
Vulnerable ports are divided in two groups: System and Trojan. System ports list contains
ports that are used by vulnerable system services; Trojan ports list contains ports that are
Plug-Ins
45
exploited by well known Trojan horses. Click the tab according to the list you want to
change.
Click Add and specify the Protocol, Port number and Weight. Weight is a decimal value
that indicates port importance. A greater number indicates a more vulnerable port. You
may also add comments to describe the port’s purpose or anything you wish to note.
There can be computers on your network that you are absolutely sure are not a source of
danger for your system, as well as ports on your system you are sure cannot serve as an
intruder’s backdoor. In other words, you consider that monitoring these hosts and/or ports
is fruitless and wish to conserve your system’s resources and increase its performance by
not monitoring them.
The Outpost Firewall Attack Detection plug-in features exclusion lists to which you can
add hosts and ports you don't want to have monitored. To manage these lists, click Hosts or
Ports under Exclusions in the Advanced tab of the plug-in settings dialog.
Plug-Ins
46
4.5 E-Mail Attachment Quarantine
This plug-in checks the files attached to e-mail arriving at your computer. With this plug-
in, you can specify which attached files are to be quarantined so they cannot harm your
computer as well as to alert you with appropriate messages. Different modes of file
checking can be set in this plug-in according to the file type of each attachment.
The settings of this plug-in can be modified in its Options dialog shown below:
Outpost Firewall comes with the common file types already configured by our engineers. If
you do not see the file type you want to set rules for, you can create a new rule for that file
type by clicking the New button. Specify the extension of the file; a description will be
supplied automatically.
Plug-Ins
47
Click OK and the new file type will be added to the list of file types Outpost Firewall
monitors:
Select Rename It and/or Report It and click the OK button. After that, Outpost Firewall
will display an
alert message about any attachment that is received and renamed.
Plug-Ins
48
4.6 DNS Cache
The Internet works by assigning a series of numbers to each computer connected to it. This
is called the computer’s IP address. An example of an IP address is: 64.176.127.178. You
can simply type in this series of numbers into your browser’s location field (near the top of
your browser’s window) and press your keyboard’s Enter key and your browser will go to
that computer’s web pages.
Although these numerical IP addresses are easy for a computer to use, they are difficult for
us humans to remember. So an address system was invented that uses words or letters
called the DNS (Domain Name System). A DNS name is what you are probably more
familiar with than IP numbers. An example of a DNS name is:
www.agnitum.com.
DNS names are much easier for us to remember, but our browsers still need to use the IP
address to find and transfer files on the Internet. Therefore, there are databases throughout
the Internet that keep track of what IP address goes with what DNS name. To find the IP
address that corresponds to a DNS name, sometimes your browser has to consult several
different databases located at different places on the Internet and this often takes time.
To speed things up, Outpost Firewall provides a personalized look-up table of DNS
addresses on your own computer. This is called a domain name cache and you can
customize it however you like.
Outpost Firewall maintains the DNS cache automatically within your specifications to
include those addresses that are most recently used by you. The amount of time that a DNS
address is saved in the DNS cache depends on the time you specify as one of the settings
for this plug-in. It also depends on how many DNS names you want Outpost Firewall to
keep track of. Only the most recently used names are kept up to the maximum number of
entries you specify.
Make sure the Enable DNS caching is selected on the plug-in’s shortcut menu for Outpost
Firewall to provide this speed up.
To modify the settings of the DNS Cache plug-in, select Properties on the same menu.
You can limit the DNS database to a specific number of entries and have them be
automatically deleted if they are not used within a certain number of days. To not limit the
database to only those entries that are used within a certain number of days, clear the DNS
records expire check box.
To enhance your system security, DNS Cache plug-in blocks invalid or malformed DNS
requests that might cause system crash or serve as an exploit of a DNS backdoor. Select
Verify and block malformed DNS requests option to have DNS Cache plug-in block
these requests so that an attacker or a malicious program would not have chance to exploit
DNS flaws in your system. Also, you can set to block extra long DNS requests, which can
Plug-Ins
49
be an attempt to send out your private data as the domain name of a forth or higher level.
To do that, select the Block extra long DNS requests check box. Additionally, you may
want to receive
pop-up alerts about such requests, if you want to stay informed about DNS
attacks against your system. To receive alerts, select the Alert about blocked DNS
requests check box.
The list of already cached site names and their IP addresses can be managed in the DNS
records dialog that you can invoke by selecting the Miscellaneous tab and clicking Edit
list under DNS records:
DNS Cache also provides you an Exclusion list to which you can add site names that you
don’t want to be cached. This list is especially useful when you frequently access sites that
have IP addresses that change often or you experience other problems when accessing
Plug-Ins
50
specific sites from your computer. To manage the list, click the Edit list button under
Exclusion list.
Plug-Ins
51
4.7 Content Filtering
Using the Content plug-in, you can block the display of particular web sites or pages
containing objectionable material. To do this, select Properties on the plug-in’s shortcut
menu:
Select Block content containing specific keywords, as shown in the picture above, then
start typing into the text field (above the large listing area) each word you want Outpost to
look for to block web pages containing those words. As soon as you start typing, the Add
button is activated. Click the Add button for each word or phrase you want to add to the
list. Any web page containing any of the words on this list will not be displayed.
To list particular web sites you do not want displayed on your computer, select the Block
by URL tab:
Plug-Ins
52
Select Block sites with specific keywords in address as shown in the picture. Type in the
URL or the part of the URL of the site you do not want displayed on your computer. As
soon as you start typing, the Add button is activated. Click the Add button after you finish
typing in the URL of each site to be blocked. Then click the OK button to have Outpost
Firewall save the list.
To change the message that will appear instead of any pages with objectionable materials
click Miscellaneous, then click the Edit button:
Outpost Firewall also supports the Trusted sites list to which you can add web sites
which content you do not want to be blocked.
All plug-in settings can easily be saved to a configuration file so that you will further be
able to load your settings back if you alter them in an inappropriate way, or transfer these
settings to another computer.
To manage the plug-in configuration files, click Export/Import tab from its Options
dialog.
Plug-Ins
53
Click Export or Import according to the action you need to take and then specify the
configuration file name.
4.8 Anti-Spyware
Most computer users don’t realize they are storing confidential information on their
computers that has commercial value to companies as well as hackers. With increasing
frequency, people use computers, for example, to order goods and pay their bills over the
Internet. Users are confronted (unknowingly generally) by widespread spyware - malicious
programs that collect information about their web surfing stats, their computers’ installed
applications and other private data that is sent to third persons afterwards, spyware that
tracks their actions without their consent. Spyware can change e-mail texts, modify files on
your hard disk, display annoying ads, change your browser’s homepage. If all those
weren’t enough reasons to be alarmed, resident spyware requires system resources, which
slows down your computer dramatically in some cases.
Not all programs are equally harmful - some of them regularly collect and analyze
information purposing some specific aims and some are installed by user knowingly. But
spyware gather information about you and your interests without your knowledge or
consent. Spyware is mostly used by on-line or software corporations for marketing
purposes.
Not always personal firewall protects user from the spyware threats. Fighting with Trojans
only is not sufficient now to make user feel he is strongly protected from all external
menaces.
Outpost Firewall provides the solution against spyware – Anti-Spyware plug-in. This plug-
in is designed to prevent you from unwanted and unauthorized actions performed by
Plug-Ins
54
spyware, get rid of abusing ads, and to protect your private data from being stolen by
spyware and Trojans.
If enabled, Anti-Spyware plug-in checks your hard disk, registry, and active processes in
memory in real-time, thus:
Blocking spyware
Protecting you from future unauthorized and objectionable actions performed by
spyware programs
Eliminating obtrusive advertisements
Protecting your private data from being stolen
Giving you a fortress against all known Trojans and spyware
Controlling all system weak points (such as the Registry, memory, local disks,
cookies) that provide attack routes to Trojans and spyware
Preventing their invasion into your computer
If you did not perform the system scan during Outpost Firewall installation, it is
recommended to run full scan just after installation to check the system for existing
spyware. To do this, start On-Demand Spyware Scanner by selecting Anti-Spyware plug-in
in the tree and clicking the Run System Scan button in the information panel.
The On-Demand Spyware Scanner will help you specify the scanning settings and guide
you through the whole process of system scan.
Plug-Ins
55
The first step allows you to select the type of system scan. The following options are
available:
Quick system scan. This option allows performing a fast scan of your system, checking
the weakest points. Recommended for every day usage. The following items will be
scanned during this check:
Processes in memory
Vulnerable registry keys
Vulnerable files and folders (such as system %systemroot% folder, root
%systemdrive% folder and Program Files)
Full system scan. Full system scan performs deep analysis of the registry and file system
as well as some extra checks. The following will be performed during this check:
Processes in memory check
Full registry scan
Full files and folders scan on non-removable disks (with explicitly specified drive
letters; mounted disks are considered as folders)
Cookies scan
Startup entries scan
This check should be performed once you’re scanning your system for the first time. The
operation can take considerable time.
Custom scan. This option allows you to select the locations to be scanned by the program
explicitly. You can select among the options stated above, and additionally, granularly
select what to scan on your file system.
Plug-Ins
56
Select the scan type and click Next. If the Custom scan is selected, the Select Objects to
Scan step appears allowing you to explicitly select the objects to be scanned.
Click Custom folders to select the specific disks, folders, and files to be scanned. In the
Select Folders window, browse to and select the desirable locations. If you want to scan
specific files, select the Show files check box to display the files as well. Click OK after
making the selection.
Once you have specified the locations to scan, click Next to start the process.
After clicking Next, the program starts scanning the selected locations. The total number of
objects scanned and the number of detected malware are displayed on the progress step.
Plug-Ins
57
The scanning process can run in background mode. If you want to work with Outpost
Firewall Pro while the scan is underway, click the Background button and the wizard will
be minimized to the progress bar on the information panel. Click Show Wizard to see the
window again.
You can abort the scanning and proceed to the results any time by clicking Cancel.
When the scan is complete, the list of detected objects (if any) is displayed automatically.
If your system is clear, i.e. no suspicious objects are found, results of the scanning are
displayed.
The Select Objects to Remove step allows viewing the detected spyware and removing
them from your system. For each object, the risk rate and the category it belongs to are
displayed. Also, the number of hits - the number of places on your computer the object was
found in - is displayed. Double-click the object to view these details.
Select the objects you want to remove and click Next. The selected software will be
removed from the places they are registered in and from memory and will be placed in
Quarantine so you can restore them any time later should you decide to or delete them
completely. When in Quarantine, the software does not harm your system (is
"quarantined") but information about it is still stored to be able to restore the program in
the case of need. See the details on using spyware Quarantine below.
The software that you did not select for removal will be left intact and will continue their
activity in your system.
Plug-Ins
58
In the case you know about some of the found programs that they are not a sort of spyware
but a legitimate software and do not want Outpost Firewall Pro to treat them as spyware
(for example, you want to see ads displayed by some adware program), you can add such
programs to Ignore list. Outpost Firewall Pro will ignore the programs on the list
displaying no alerts on detecting their activity. Also these programs will not be displayed in
the list of detected spyware. To add a program to ignore list, right-click its name and select
Add to Ignore List. The record for this program will be removed from the detected
spyware list. You can later remove program from the Ignore list using the Edit button on
the General tab of plug-in properties.
Important: In fact, cookie is not a spyware but can be used to steal private information
from your computer. Spyware programs installed on the computer can write the
information into the cookie files, and on visiting the corresponding site, the information
can be sent to the third party person.
The last step of the wizard displays the scanning report where you can see the number of
detected, removed, and quarantined spyware and other scanning details.
Plug-Ins
59
After viewing the results, click Finish to close the wizard.
Anti-Spyware plug-in provides the real-time non-stop protection against spyware. When
real-time protection is enabled, all system vulnerable objects are permanently monitored to
ensure the spyware is detected before performing any malicious activity.
To enable the real-time protection, open the plug-in properties by right-clicking the plug-in
in the tree and selecting Properties and select the Enable real-time protection check box.
You can also specify to automatically scan processes requiring network access for which
no rules exist. Select the Scan processes asking for network access check box and you
will see the result of the spyware scan in the Rules Wizard window header each time some
application requires the connection for the first time. This will keep spyware protection
levels high even if the real-time spyware protection isn't running due to performance
impact.
You can customize the plug-in behavior on detecting the spyware using the options in this
dialog. The following actions can be performed on detecting the suspicious program:
Prompt. On detecting the suspicious program, the dialog box will be displayed to the user
asking him for an action.
Plug-Ins
60
To remove all the detected spyware from your computer, click Remove All. If you want,
you can view the list of detected spyware programs and remove the programs selectively
by clicking the More button, highlighting the spyware in the list and clicking Remove by
its side. If you consider some of the detected programs as legitimate software which are not
a sort of spyware and do not want Outpost Firewall Pro to treat them as spyware (for
example, you want to see ads displayed by some adware program), you can add these
programs to Ignore list by clicking Ignore next to them. Outpost Firewall Pro will ignore
the programs on the Ignore list displaying no alerts on detecting their activity. You can
later remove program from the Ignore list using the Edit button on the General tab of
plug-in properties. To add all the detected spyware to Ignore list, click Ignore All.
Remove automatically. On detecting the suspicious program, the corresponding object
will be automatically removed. It is not recommended to select this option as you can
remove some legitimate programs.
In this mode, you can set the visual alerts to be displayed and sound alerts to be played on
detecting the spyware by clicking the Alerts button and selecting the corresponding check
boxes. Outpost Firewall Pro will display visual alert and play the specified sound file each
time the spyware is detected and removed. This allows to get to know which programs you
run and sites you visit pose you under the risk.
The removed spyware can be not deleted completely but placed into a special isolated
storage - "quarantine" - in order to be able to restore them later in case of need (if you
decided that the removed item did not perform any malicious activity). Objects stored in
Quarantine do not pose any threat to your computer.
For Outpost Firewall Pro to set all removed items into Quarantine, open plug-in properties
and select the Quarantine object before removal check box. If this check box is selected,
you will be able to see the removed objects in the Quarantine in the main Outpost Firewall
Pro window. Every spyware program is represented in Quarantine only once despite the
number of signatures detected. Date and time when it was placed into Quarantine is
displayed for every program. If the check box is cleared, all the items will be completely
deleted from the system after removing.
Each item can be restored from Quarantine to resume its normal operation on your
computer. To restore the item, click the corresponding link by its side. Registry keys and
INI files will be restored at a point in time when they were put in Quarantine.
Plug-Ins
61
You can restore the program and add it to the Ignore list to make Outpost Firewall Pro not
treat it as a spyware by selecting the command on the item’s shortcut menu. You can also
remove the item permanently by clicking the Delete link by its side. To clear the
Quarantine entirely, use the corresponding command on the plug-in's shortcut menu.
Note: Not every spyware program can be placed into quarantine.
Outpost Firewall Pro lets you specify personal data that is never allowed to be transmitted
by your computer through Internet browsers, instant messaging software, e-mail clients or
any other applications. This provides protection against identity theft through the abuse of
credit card account details, passwords, or other unique and valuable personal information.
To protect your private data, select the ID Block tab of the plug-in properties window, and
select the Block private data transfer check box. Click Add and under Data to protect
enter any combination of symbols, letters or digits you do not want to leak from your
computer. Specify the description to identify the string later and the category it regards to.
After clicking OK and applying changes, that string will be blocked from any outgoing
communication.
You can set to display alerts each time an attempt to transfer one of the specified strings to
the network is performed by selecting the Show visual alert check box. If you select the
Replace transferred ID with asterisks instead of blocking check box, any requester will
receive only the "*" symbols which replace the original entry.
Plug-Ins
62
4.9 Quick Tune
Outpost Firewall provides the alternative way for controlling content of downloaded web
pages directly from your browser. Quick Tune plug-in allows managing Ads and Active
Content plug-ins settings using the special panel in Internet Explorer. To get access to the
plug-ins settings from Internet Explorer, select Explorer Bar > Outpost Firewall Pro
Quick Tune on the browser’s View menu. The following panel will be displayed in the
explorer bar:
The panel contains sections with Ads and Active Content plug-ins settings which are
similar to those displayed in the Outpost Firewall interface. To enable/disable the blocking
of ads/active content in your browser, click Enable ads blocking/Enable AC blocking.
Clicking the corresponding links in the panel you can open the plug-in properties and
specify the settings the same way it is described above for each of the plug-ins.
Right-click the Quick Tune panel and click Adjust Controlling Parameters to select
which active content elements you want to be displayed in the panel.
You can take an advantage of ad Trashcan. This small window makes it easy for you to
remove an ad from a web page you are viewing, by simply dragging the ad over to the
specified area.
Plug-Ins
63
Doing this will give you the following dialog:
Select String portion if you want to trim the URL down. Then click OK to save the ad’s
URL into Outpost Firewall base.
Note: To disable the plug-in, clear the Explorer Bar > Outpost Firewall Quick Tune
checkmark on the browser’s View menu.
Advanced Settings
64
Part 2: For Advanced Users Only
The Outpost Log System
5 Advanced Settings
65
5.1 Introduction
Our engineers configured Outpost Firewall’s default settings to give optimum protection
for most computer systems and networks. Outpost Firewall was designed from the start to
be effectively used in its pre-configured state even by computer novices who need not
know about network protocols to have their computer system safeguarded against
malicious applications or web sites.
However, we also wanted Outpost Firewall to be fully configurable to advanced users,
those individuals who understand networking technology.
This chapter is provided so advanced users can effectively tweak Outpost Firewall and
learn about its most powerful features.
Note: A good rule of thumb when using Outpost Firewall is to keep the settings Outpost
Firewall suggests if you do not have a particular reason and the knowledge to change
them.
5.2 Saving and Loading Configurations
Outpost Firewall has very many settings. Being able to save several different
configurations of these settings lets you:
Create different configurations for you and your family or colleagues.
Prevent your children from accessing unwanted sites (sex, games, bomb making),
from playing online games or chatting.
Switch, using one mouse click, between "Work", "Rest", "I am away", "Block
Everything", and "Children" configurations.
Back up your configurations.
A configuration is the state Outpost Firewall is in at any time. To create a new
configuration, just change whatever settings you want and then go to the File menu (it is
recommended to save your current configuration prior to this), select Save Configuration
As and then enter the name you want to give that configuration. The File menu command
New Configuration allows you to create a new configuration prompting whether you want
to specify all the Outpost Firewall settings manually or use the automatic configuration.
The default configuration file Outpost Firewall uses is named configuration.cfg, located
in the Outpost Firewall installation folder. You can create several different configuration
files simply by giving each a different name.
The Outpost Log System
66
A configuration file can be protected by password. To do this, use the Options menu and
select General then click Enable in the Password protection area of the dialog.
To change to a new configuration, use the File menu, select Load Configuration and
choose the configuration file you want or simply select the configuration name on the File
menu between Save Configuration As and Exit.
When exiting Outpost Firewall, the configuration file that is currently in use is saved so it
will be automatically loaded the next time Outpost Firewall is started.
5.3 Setting a Password
You can safeguard the settings you give Outpost Firewall by selecting a password. This
will prevent all the data you entered into Outpost Firewall from being changed. You can,
for example, block access to objectionable sites for your children and know that your
settings cannot be tampered with.
To set a password or change an old one, right-click the icon in the system tray, then select
Options. You will see this dialog:
Select Enable under Set password to protect your settings. This brings up a small
window in which you can enter the password you want. When you have entered in your
password, click the OK button, then click the Set Password button in the above dialog
window.
The Outpost Log System
67
By default, your password protects only your configuration settings from being altered, but
you can additionally select to protect the Log Viewer and Outpost Firewall service if you
need to keep the system network history from being viewed by unauthorized persons or
want to prevent them from unloading Outpost Firewall and disabling its protection and the
restrictions you set. This is most useful for parents who want to control their children and
employers who need to restrict the activities of their employees.
Note: Remember your password!
5.4 Creating Rules for Applications
This section is an extension of what was covered earlier in 3.5 Application Level Filtering.
The rules for applications can be set using the Rules dialog window. In the Options dialog,
select the Application tab, highlight an application on the list, and select Modify Rules on
the Edit menu. Click New to open the following dialog:
Use of this dialog is recommended only for people who know about networking protocols.
The Outpost Log System
68
First, describe the event to which the rule applies. You can select from the following
criteria for your rule in the Select Event this rule will handle box:
Where the specified protocol is
Where the specified direction is
Where the specified remote host is
Where the specified remote port is
Where the specified local port is
Where the specified time interval is
Where local port is equal to remote port
Selecting a check box adds its message to the Rules Description field. If a rule is listed as
undefined, you should click it and select one of its options.
After describing the event, select an action for your rule in the Select Actions with which
the rule will respond box. It can be:
Allow it—Allows this communication.
Block it—Blocks the communication. The source is not notified so it appears that
the packet never arrived at the destination.
Report it—Displays a
message box when a rule is triggered.
Run application—Runs the specified application with any specified command line
parameters when a rule is triggered.
Do not log this activity—disables activity logging for this rule. If selected, no data
will be written to log on this rule triggering.
Stateful Inspection—turns on “stateful inspection” for this application. If activated
after an application connects to a remote server, all incoming communications
from that server to the port opened by the application will be allowed.
Ignore Component Control—forces Outpost to ignore Component Control during
this communication if all the specified conditions are met.
The final step is to assign a name to the rule. We recommend that you give a recognizable
name to the rule, so it will be easy for you or others to understand it in the future. In
addition, the name you give your rule appears in the Allowed or Blocked log as the
Reason for allowing or blocking this communication. Outpost Firewall suggests the name
for the rule based on the specified settings.
It is prudent to save the present configuration before making changes to it.
Note: When an application tries to go online Outpost Firewall checks if there are any
rules for that application in the Application Rules list and, if so, Outpost uses those rules
and ignores the Global Application and System Rules. Otherwise, Outpost Firewall
The Outpost Log System
69
checks for rules matching the activity of the application in the Global Application and
System Rules list and uses any that might apply.
5.5 System Level Filtering
Open the Options dialog window and select the System tab:
Note: These settings are for advanced users only. If any are incorrectly changed for your
system or network, it could result in your firewall not working as expected.
The following options are available:
LAN settings—lets you change the settings for your local area network, your NetBIOS
choices, and lets you add or remove trusted IP ranges. NetBIOS is what Windows uses as
the protocol for transferring shared files between computers and/or printers on a network.
NetBIOS is useful on a LAN with trusted computers but it can leave your computer open
to attack if it is allowed for general Internet connections. To learn more about
configuring your LAN settings, refer to
5.6 Settings for a Home or Office Network.
ICMP—lets you specify the types and directions of the ICMP messages allowed. The
different types of ICMP messages are listed in
Appendix B: Types of ICMP Messages. It is
recommended that you do not change the ICMP settings unless you are certain that you are
making the right changes. The Default button on the ICMP settings dialog resets all the
ICMP settings to what they were when Outpost Firewall was first installed.
Firewall mode—to switch stealth mode on or off. Normally, when your computer
receives a connection request from another computer it lets the other computer know that
this port is closed. In stealth mode, your computer will not respond, making it seem like it
The Outpost Log System
70
is not turned on or not connected to the Internet. It is recommended that you keep Outpost
Firewall in stealth mode unless you have a reason not to.
Global rules and rawsocket access—lets you specify global rules for all applications. The
following rules are available by default:
Allow DNS Resolution (TCP and UDP)
Allow Outgoing DHCP
Allow Inbound Identification (disabled by default)
Allow Loopback (inbound)
Allow GRE Protocol
Allow PPTP control connection
Block Remote Procedure Call (TCP and UDP)
Block Server Message Block Protocol (TCP and UDP)
Allow Localhost UDP Connection
Click Rules to edit the existing rules or to create new ones. The way the rules are created is
similar to how application based rules are created. For details, see
5.4 Creating Rules for
Applications.
The only differences are as follows.
You can specify the packet type for outbound connections (i.e. when Where the specified
direction is is Outbound:
Local packets from or to the local network interface
Transit packets that are passed along the system network interface or are forwarded
to other interfaces (packets that are received and then sent further)
NAT packets – packets with translated IP-addresses (transit packets sent or
received through a NAT proxy)
Besides, you can mark the rule as a High Priority if you want this rule to prevail over the
application rules which take precedence by default.
Some applications can also access the network through direct low-level socket calls, also
known as rawsockets. These calls cannot be governed by ordinary protocols or application
rules and thus can serve as backdoors for rogue applications or processes to access the
network without any limits or regulations. To improve your system protection, Outpost
Firewall lets you control rawsocket access. You can define which applications are allowed
to make rawsocket calls and which are not. Click Rawsockets to bring up the following
dialog:
The Outpost Log System
71
Click Add and select the application that you want to grant rawsocket access. If you want
Outpost Firewall to ask you each time an application that is not on the allowed list
attempts to access rawsockets, select the corresponding check box.
5.6 Using Macro Addresses
Outpost Firewall Pro allows you to specify macro addresses in rule descriptions to facilitate
the creation of rules. Instead of having to type IP addresses manually while creating rules
for your Intranet communications or some Windows-based services (for example, DNS),
you can use suggested macro definitions, to designate local networks as
LOCAL_NETWORK, all DNS servers as DNS_SERVERS, etc.
Outpost Firewall Pro automatically recognizes current macro values so you do not need to
change host and subnet addresses whenever network adapter settings are changed. For
example, a mobile user's protection will always be active since the rules on his laptop work
regardless of what network he is connected to.
When you specify a local or remote address, you can select one of the following macros:
DNS_SERVERS. Specifies addresses of all DNS servers in your network.
LOCAL_NETWORK. Specifies addresses of all your local networks and addresses from
the broadcast ranges available on your computer.
WINS_SERVERS. Specifies addresses of all WINS servers on your network.
GATEWAYS. Specifies addresses of all gateway servers for your network.
MY_COMPUTER. Specifies all IP addresses your computer has in different networks,
including loopback addresses.
The Outpost Log System
72
ALL_COMPUTER_ADDRESSES. Specifies all IP addresses your computer has in
different networks, including broadcast and multicast addresses.
BROADCAST_ADDRESSES. Specifies addresses within broadcast ranges available to
your computer. A broadcast address is an IP address that allows information to be sent
simultaneously to all machines on a given subnet.
MULTICAST_ADDRESSES. Specifies addresses in multicast ranges. A multicast
address is a single address that refers to multiple network devices. “Multicast address” is
synonymous with “group address”.
5.7 Settings for a Home or Office Network
A fundamental difference between a local area network (LAN) and the Internet is the level
of trust you can grant them. A LAN, used in the home or an office, is generally comprised
of “friendly” computers—computers belonging to or operated by other family members or
fellow workers. A LAN can be called a Trusted Zone.
To check or reconfigure your network settings, right-click Outpost Firewall’s icon in the
system tray and select Options. Select the System tab to get the following dialog:
In the LAN Settings section, click the Settings button to display the LAN Settings
window:
The Outpost Log System
73
Normally when you open this window you will see your network address, but if you
selected the Configuration Wizard during the Outpost Firewall installation process and
removed all detected networks, then this window will most likely be blank. To detect your
network automatically, click the Detect button.
It is also recommended that you keep Auto-detect new network settings selected for
Outpost Firewall to automatically detect any new networks so you will not have to add
them manually.
If you wish to allow all connections for a particular network, select the corresponding
check box in the Trusted column. Otherwise, if you want to remove the network address
from the Trusted Zone, clear the check box.
If you want to allow all NetBIOS communications—to and from a network address—make
sure the corresponding box in the NetBIOS column is selected. To disallow all
communications with the network, just clear the NetBIOS and Trusted check boxes.
You can also add a custom remote network address to Trusted Zone. Click the Add button
to display the following dialog window:
The Outpost Log System
74
Specify the domain name, IP address, or IP range. An example is given below the selection
area for each type of address designation. An active Internet connection is required for
Domain name (Internet connection needed) because the IP address needs to be looked
up directly over the Internet. The IP address is saved along with the domain name you enter
and this is the IP address that is mostly used by Outpost Firewall.
Click the Add button to add a new entry to Outpost Firewall’s Trusted Zone listing.
An entry on the trusted list can be modified at any time by highlighting it, amending it, and
clicking the Modify button.
To remove an entry, highlight it on the list and click the Remove button.
Please note that plug-ins are independent from the Trusted Zone settings. For example,
even if we add
www.agnitum.com to the trusted network addresses, Outpost Firewall
plug-ins will block banners, active content and other things from this site regardless.
In addition, it is very important to remember that Trusted Zone rules are given the highest
priority possible. Even restricted applications can communicate with Trusted Zone hosts.
We advise you to put
ONLY your absolutely trusted computers into this zone. If you only
need file and printer sharing, it is best to use NetBIOS rather than Trusted.
Note: If you do not want to clutter up logs with information about NetBIOS broadcast
packets, you can specify to disable these data logging for each of the detected host or
subnet. Select the address from the list and clear the Log NetBIOS broadcasts for
selected host or subnet check box in the Information area. This will keep Log Viewer
data more clear and may improve computer performance.
5.8 Running in Entertainment Mode
When playing games or watching movies you probably want to avoid product prompts and
alerts from distracting your attention or capturing focus, yet still want to be protected,
especially when playing online.
Outpost Firewall Pro provides a specially designed Entertainment mode where protection
is active without bothering users with numerous product prompts and alerts. Once the full
screen application (a game, media player, etc.) is started, Outpost Firewall Pro detects this
event and suggests entering Entertainment mode, so the application runs using the
background/Entertainment mode policy that is specified in Options > Policy > Advanced
dialog, in which case no alerts and messages are displayed with the full screen application
and updates are not checked.
The Outpost Log System
75
If you want a particular application to always or never use Entertainment mode, select the
Remember for this application check box before responding to the dialog box. You can
also enable or disable Entertainment mode for specific applications in the Options >
Application list using the commands on the application's shortcut menu. Select
Entertainment Mode > Enable Entertainment Mode or Disable Entertainment Mode
for Outpost Firewall Pro to automatically change its policy when the application enters full
screen mode.
To configure specific Entertainment mode settings, click Advanced. The displayed
window lets you set the rules that will be used by Outpost Firewall Pro whenever you enter
Entertainment mode, and lets you define whether advanced protection techniques such as
Component Control, Anti-Leak Control and real-time spyware protection should be
enabled while Outpost Firewall Pro runs in Entertainment mode.
Note: When operating in background mode, Outpost Firewall Pro does not enter
Entertainment mode.
Note: When an application—with no network access rules already set—enters
Entertainment mode, it is put in the Trusted applications group.
The Outpost Log System
76
5.9 Running in Self-Protection Mode
As anti-malware tools have grown stronger, hackers now try to switch them off using
rootkits and other advanced tools before proceeding with their own unauthorized actions.
To withstand this threat, Outpost Firewall Pro features so called Self-protection mode.
With self-protection turned on, Outpost Firewall Pro protects itself against termination
caused by viruses, Trojans or spyware. Even attempts to simulate user keystrokes that
would otherwise lead to firewall shutdown are detected and blocked. Outpost Firewall Pro
also constantly monitors its own components on the hard drive, registry entries, memory
status, running services, and so on, and disallows any changes by malicious applications.
By default, self-protection is enabled. To disable it, click the Self-Protection button on the
toolbar.
Note: Disabling self-protection may severely impact overall system security. Though
disabling is required for the installation of plug-ins and other advanced functions, it should
be re-enabled as soon as the changes have been made.
The Outpost Log System
6 The Outpost Log System
77
6.1 Introduction
Outpost Firewall performs many different functions as it protects your computer from
attacks. Each action it takes is referred to as an event and every event is logged.
To make it easy for you to view these event logs our engineers created the Outpost Log
Viewer. This shows you the history of every operation Outpost Firewall performed
including:
Every application and connection that was allowed or blocked by Outpost
Firewall.
The specific activities of each Outpost Firewall plug-in.
The start of every program and all changes made to policies, configuration settings
and passwords.
The main features of the Outpost Log Viewer are:
One mouse click to view the entire log or a selection of specific events. See the
6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details.
Customized display of the logs. You can view only the information you need by
selecting columns and limiting their parameters and sorting by any parameter.
Preset selections of events can be displayed. You can easily switch between
connections blocked during the last ten minutes, for instance, or all connections
allowed today. You can also create, edit and remove selections of events to be
displayed. See the
6.4 Working with Logs and Filters chapter for details.
Filters can be added to organize the data displayed.
Logs can be copied and/or exported according to presets, filters or selected records.
Log files can be cleared to save hard drive space.
Customized SQL queries can be created for specific monitoring purposes.
Logs can even be browsed via the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.
Logging can be disabled by clearing the Tools > Enable Logging check box from
the Outpost main window.
The Outpost Log System
78
6.2 Outpost Log Viewers Main Window
The main window of the Outpost Log Viewer allows you to view and work with the logs.
To access this window select Tools from Outpost Firewall’s menu and then select
Outpost Log Viewer. This is how the window looks:
The main elements of Outpost Log Viewer are:
The Menu Bar.
Console Tree
Information Panel
Tool Bar
Description Bar
Status Bar
The console tree and information panel are similar to the left and right panels of Windows
Explorer. The console tree is a listing of the filters and the information panel gives detailed
data about whatever filter is highlighted in the console tree.
As with Windows Explorer, any line that starts with a plus sign (+) can be expanded to
show each of its subcategories. Any line starting with a minus sign (-) shows that the line
has already been expanded. By clicking on the minus sign, all of its subcomponents can be
hidden so only the name of the component is displayed to conserve screen space.
To expand or collapse all the items of a log or plug-in:
The Outpost Log System
79
1. In the console tree, right-click a log or plug-in.
2. Select Expand All or Collapse All on the shortcut menu.
The console tree consists of two tabs: Tree and Favorites. For more information about
Favorites, see the
6.5 Working with Favorites chapter for details.
On the Tree tab, there are the following groups of logs:
Alerts Tracker
A listing of all the displayed notifications.
Allowed Connections
A listing of every application and connection that Outpost Firewall allowed.
Anti-Leak
Displays all the Anti-Leak Control activity events.
Blocked Connections
A listing of every application and connection that Outpost Firewall blocked.
Component Control
Displays all the Component Control activity events.
Plug-Ins
Each plug-in has its own log:
o Active Content displays the sites that had some of its active content
blocked based on the settings for Java applets, JavaScript, VBScript,
ActiveX objects and other active content elements.
o Ads displays a list of all the ads that were blocked.
o Anti-Spyware displays a list of all spyware objects detected in your
system and the actions performed.
o Attachments Filter shows all the e-mail file attachments that were
neutralized and quarantined from your computer.
o Attack Detection shows every suspicious activity and attack on your
computer from the Internet, the ports involved and where the attacks
originated.
o Content lists all the web sites or pages that were blocked due to their
content.
o DNS Cache displays the web addresses saved by Outpost Firewall to
speed up your Internet connection to those sites.
The Outpost Log System
80
System Log
This is a record of every program start and every change made to the firewall
policies, program options and configuration settings.
The information is arranged in a table. The columns of this table represent the various log
parameters, such as Application, Start Time, Protocol. Each log has its own set of
parameters. See the
6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details.
The Outpost Log Viewer toolbar is near the top of the main window and looks like this
when Outpost Firewall is first installed:
When working with Outpost Log Viewer, you can see a tooltip explaining what each
button does by holding your cursor over it for a second or so. Here is what each button
does:
Button Function
Goes back to the previous viewed item.
Goes forward to the next viewed item.
Goes up one level.
Shows or hides the console tree.
Exports the selected log.
Enables log auto refresh.
Displays context help.
The description bar is right above the information panel in the Outpost Log Viewer
window and looks like this:
It displays a description of the filter selected in the console tree.
The status bar is at the bottom of the Outpost Log Viewer window and looks like this:
It consists of two sections that display the following information:
The result of attempting to open the selected log.
The number of the record being viewed and the total number of records in that log.
The Outpost Log System
81
You can locate data more comfortably by showing or hiding specific parts of the Outpost
Log Viewer window. To customize the Log Viewer’s layout, select Layout on the View
menu.
You will see the Customize View dialog, which looks like this:
Select the elements you want to display and clear those you want to hide.
To show or hide the console tree, you can also use the
button on the Outpost Viewer
toolbar.
6.3 How to Display Logs
To view Outpost Firewall’s logs, select Tools from Outpost Firewall’s menu, then select
Outpost Log Viewer. Select the items of interest in the console tree as described below or
switch to the Favorites tab (see the
6.5 Working with Favorites chapter for details).
You can also open the specific Log Viewer entry you are interested in directly from the
main Outpost’s window. To do so, perform the following actions:
1. In the left panel of the main window, select the component you want to view the
statistics for.
2. Click the Show Detailed Log button on the information panel if you want to see
the entire log or select a preset or filter from the menu using the Show Log Preset
button.
The Outpost Log Viewer will be opened showing the details of the log.
Content in the Outpost Log Viewer changes quickly so to display the latest data in the
information panel, don’t forget to refresh it occasionally by highlighting the log, preset or
filter you want to refresh in the console tree and clicking the Refresh button in the
information panel.
The history of Outpost Firewall’s activity is displayed in Log Viewer’s information panel
as a table. Every log has its own set of columns. You can configure Log Viewer to show
only the columns you are interested in and in any sequence.
The Outpost Log System
82
To select the columns you want displayed for the selected log, right-click anywhere in the
information panel and select Columns from the shortcut menu. Alternatively, you could
select Add/Remove Columns on the View menu.
You will see the Columns dialog that looks like this:
Select the columns you want to be displayed in the information panel.
To change the sequence of columns in your log, use the Move Up or Move Down buttons.
This can also be done directly from the main Log Viewer’s window by simply dragging the
columns in the information panel (by holding the left mouse button down) to arrange them
in whatever order you want. To revert to the default order, click Reset.
To resize a column, point to the caption of the columns and position the cursor over its
border, the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Click the left mouse button and keep
it pressed while moving the cursor. Release the button as soon as the column has reached
the size you want.
Outpost Log Viewer also lets you sort the records of a log by the values of any column in
descending or ascending order. Click the header of the column you would like to use to sort
the records. If the header shows an arrow pointing upwards
, the records will
be sorted in ascending order (i.e. 1, 2, 3…). To reverse the order, just click again. The
header now shows a downward arrow
and the records will be in descending
order (i.e. 3, 2, 1).
To make it easier to locate specific data in a log, you can show or hide records containing
the same data in any of displayed columns. Select the corresponding record in the
information panel. Right-click the cell that contains the data of interest and select Include
Selection from the shortcut menu to show the records with similar data or Exclude
Selection to hide them. If there are other cells that have the same data for several records,
you can add that also. To show all the records again, select Show All from the shortcut
menu.
Example: To view data on connections established by a certain application at a particular
time, select the Allowed Connections log, right-click the cell with record containing
The Outpost Log System
83
information on the application in the Application column and select Include Selection.
Then right-click the Start Time column on the required date and time and select Include
Selection again. The information panel will now display all the records of the selected date
regarding the selected application.
This operation can be done so quickly that there is no reason to save the configuration. To
create a permanent selection of records under complex conditions, create a filter.
Notes: Include Selection and Exclude Selection commands are not available for some
logs.
While in the Rules Wizard mode, some particular records can be displayed in Outpost
Firewall Log Viewer. If Outpost Firewall Log Viewer is open and some application
requests the network access which is not described by any of the existing rules, the prompt
is displayed and the application is blocked until the user takes the decision. Such an
application will be displayed in the Blocked Connections log. If the user allows the
network access, the records in this log are displayed as shown in the following picture:
6.4 Working with Logs and Filters
There are several useful operations you can perform with logs:
Creation of filters.
Adding logs, filters or presets to Favorites.
Copying logs, filters, presets or particular records to the Windows clipboard.
Exporting logs, filters, presets or records to text files.
Clearing logs.
A filter is a way of selecting out specific logged events; it filters out only the data you want
from all the data contained in a log. A filter is named to show the data it presents and it
appears as a separate item in the console tree. The conditions (rules) of filtering are
specified by the user. The rules are based on each column (type of data) that is in a log.
Filtering out only the data that you are interested in is a powerful and flexible feature. With
filters, you can narrow your search to only the data within a specific time span and/or only
the data about a particular application, port, etc.
The Outpost Log System
84
To create a filter, click the Add Filter button in the information panel. This command is
also available in Outpost Log Viewer’s menu under Actions > Add Filter and in the
shortcut menus of each log in the console tree. You will see the Filter dialog with a listing
of the columns in that log:
To specify a filtering rule, select each column of data you want to see. In the description
field, the beginning of the rule appears, such as: “Where the Start Time is
Undefined”.
To continue the rule, click
Undefined. You will see a dialog in which you can specify
various limitations for the selected column:
Use this dialog window to meet your needs and click OK. The rule will be completed
according to the choice you have made. For example: “Where the Start Time is last 5
minutes.”
You can specify as many rules as you like, then enter the filter name and click OK. The
new filter will appear in the console tree.
You can also edit an existing filter by clicking the Edit Filter button in the information
panel and editing all the settings of the filter as described above.
The Outpost Log System
85
It is also possible to remove an unnecessary filter by highlighting it in the console tree and
pressing the Remove Filter button. The filter will be removed from the console tree.
You can quickly view a filter from within the Outpost Firewall’s main window (see the
6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details) or add it to Favorites (see the 6.5 Working
with Favorites chapter for details).
To save specific logged data to a text or comma separated value file or copy it to the
clipboard to paste it to other applications:
1. In the Log Viewer’s console tree, select the log of interest.
2. Select the records you want to copy or export.
To select a group of records, click the first one and then press the Shift key
while clicking on the last one.
To select separate records, click each while holding down the Ctrl key.
Use Include Selection or Exclude Selection in a record’s shortcut menu
(right-click a record to get the menu) to make an advanced selection by using
one or several columns.
3. Right-click a selection and select Export or Copy from the shortcut menu.
4. Specify the folder to which the data will be exported and the file type and name. If
you are copying records then remember to paste them into another file.
5. Click OK.
Logs are stored in a database that is compressed automatically to conserve space on your
hard disk, so there is usually no need to clear these logs. However, you may want to clear
them from your hard drive. In the console tree, select the log of interest and right-click in
the information panel to display the shortcut menu. Select Clear Log to see the following
dialog:
Select either Delete all records or specify the date of the last record to be deleted.
The Outpost Log System
86
6.5 Working with Favorites
The console tree consists of two tabs: Tree and Favorites. Favorites is where you can
keep things that you use often.
You can add logs, presets or filters that you frequently use to the Favorites tab for
convenient and quick access. In the console tree, right-click the required item (group of
logs, log, log preset or filter) and select Add to Favorites.
The Add to Favorites dialog will be displayed:
If desired, rename the item in the Name edit field and select a folder to place it in or create
a new one by clicking on the New Folder button. Click OK. The item appears on the
Favorites tab in the specified folder.
To display the items you saved in Favorites, just click Favorites in the console tree and
select the required item.
To delete items from Favorites, in the console tree, click the Favorites tab. Right-click the
required item and select Remove.
To rearrange the order of items in Favorites, select Favorites from the Log Viewer’s menu
and select Organize Favorites to get this dialog:
The Outpost Log System
87
To create a new folder, click the Create Folder button. To rename or delete an item, select
the item and click Rename or Delete. Clicking on Move to Folder displays the Select
Favorites Folder dialog:
Highlight the folder you want the item to be moved to and click OK.
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
88
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
Layout
You can choose not to display the folder bar, tool bar and the status bar in order to increase
the amount of viewing space of the
information panel. To do this, click the View menu and
select Layout as shown here:
The following dialog box lets you clear check boxes next to these bars:
In the Left panel section are the categories that can be displayed or hidden in the left
panel’s listing by selecting or clearing them in this dialog. These are:
Network Activity—all objects with a network activity.
Open Ports—all objects with an open port for a network connection.
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
89
Allowed—shows the events log for all applications with a protocol that is
supported and allowed for network operation.
Blocked—shows the events log for all applications with network connection
attempts that were blocked.
Reported—shows the events log for all applications for which a report on their
network operations must be made according to Outpost Firewall’s settings.
Note: The same object can be in several lists as applicable.
Filter by time
This filters out the data displayed that you are not interested in. Filter by time limits the
event log display to the Allowed, Blocked and Reported items of the left panel.
Filter by time is only available on the View menu when one of the left panel items
Allowed, Blocked or Reported is highlighted as shown here:
An alternate way to access the Filter by time dialog window is from Outpost Firewall’s
toolbar. The Filter by time button
that is accessible only when one of the left panel’s
Allowed, Blocked or Reported items is highlighted.
Filter by time lets you choose from three options:
Current session—shows the event log for the current session of Outpost Firewall.
Today—shows the event log for the current date.
All—shows the entire event log from the time you started using Outpost.
To find out how to filter Outpost Log Viewer logs, refer to
6 Outpost Log System chapter.
Columns
With the View menu’s Columns option, you can configure Outpost Firewall to show you
only those data you are interested in. This is also available from the information panel
element’s shortcut menu.
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
90
Please note that the Columns menu is available for Network Activity and Open Ports
items only.
After clicking on the Columns option from the View menu the following dialog is
displayed:
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
91
The Column Headers and Listed Fields in this dialog correspond to those in the
information panel as shown here:
You can customize the listings by removing an item from the list using the Remove or
button or adding a previously removed item back to the list using the Add button.
You can re-arrange the sequence of the items for each listing also. To move an item in
either the Listed Fields or Column Headers list, use the up arrow button
to move the
item one line up or the down arrow button
to move the item one line down. These
buttons are located under the listing they affect.
The Advanced command on the View menu also allows you to customize the display of
information in columns:
The Resolve section gives you the choice of displaying network addresses as DNS address
(for example,
www.agnitum.com)
Never—always display these addresses as IP addresses (for example,
64.176.127.178).
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
92
If cached—convert these to their DNS addresses if the information for the address
conversion is stored in the DNS Cache module.
Always—always convert and display these addresses as DNS addresses.
However, this is not recommended as it can result in a great number of DNS
requests.
The Display port as section lets you display the local port (on your computer) and remote
port values as:
Number—ports are displayed as numbers.
Name—ports are displayed as names describing their task, if the information is
available in the system for that port (for example, “www” rather than “80”).
The Display traffic as section lets you specify the base measure of the amount of
transferred information in the Sent and Received fields as:
Auto—displays traffic in the most suitable measurement.
Bytes—displays traffic in number of bytes sent or received.
KB—displays traffic in kilobytes.
MB—displays traffic in megabytes.
Group By
Group By is a very useful option on the Outpost Firewall’s View menu. Using it, you can
get the information you need very quickly. Normally, the information is grouped by
application, which is generally the most useful grouping of information. For example, you
can select Group By Application, then click the application you are investigating in the
left panel and Outpost Firewall lists all the connections of this particular application and
nothing more. Another example is, if you run a web or FTP server, select Group By Local
Port, then click the port name in the left panel (“www”, for example) and the information
panel shows you how your computer is exactly connected to your server.
If you are looking for applications sending data to a particular computer on the Internet,
you can do this almost immediately if you use the Group By selection of the View menu.
Group By can be used on the following left panel items:
Network Activity
Open Ports
Group By changes the type of the following objects display:
Process
Protocol
Local Host (your computer)
Appendix A: Customizing Outpost Main Window
93
Local Port (on your computer)
Remote Host (another computer than yours)
Remote Port (on the other computer)
Highlight one of the left panel items listed above, click the View menu and select
Group By:
You can also get this same display by highlighting the left panel category, Network
Activity in our picture, and then clicking the Group By button
on the tool bar as
shown here:
Select the criterion by which the objects should be grouped.
Appendix B: Types of ICMP Messages
Appendix B: Types of ICMP Messages
94
Field Value Description
0 Echo Reply
3 Destination Unreachable
4 Source Quench
5 Redirect
8 Echo Request
10 Router Solicitation
11 Time Exceeded For Datagram
12 Parameter Problem On Datagram
13 Timestamp Request
14 Timestamp Reply
16 Information Reply
17 Address Mask Request
18 Address Mask Reply
Echo Request is one of the simplest methods of checking operating conditions of a
network node. Once an echo signal is received, any network node generates an Echo Reply
and returns it to the source. If the source receives a reply to the echo request, this indicates
that the main components of the traffic system are in good condition.
Destination Unreachable is generated by a gateway when it cannot deliver an IP
datagram. This is the unit of data, or packet, transmitted in a TCP/IP network. Each
datagram contains source and destination addresses and data.
A Source Quench ICMP message is transmitted from the node to the datagram source in
the event that the input queue is overcrowded. In this case, the datagram is removed from
the queue.
A Redirect ICMP message is transmitted when a gateway detects that a non-optimal route
is used, then the gateway sends a request for a change of route in the routing table.
An IP Announcement ICMP message transmits a broadcast to announce its IP address.
The Time Exceeded For Datagram ICMP message is sent when a datagram is transferred
from one gateway to another more times than it is allowed (normally this indicates route
cycling).
A Parameter Problem on Datagram ICMP message is sent by a gateway if a problem
occurs during the transmission of a specific datagram that is not in the range of the above
messages. The datagram must be abandoned due to this error.
The Timestamp Request and Timestamp Reply ICMP messages are used to synchronize
the clocks in a network’s nodes.
Appendix B: Types of ICMP Messages
95
The Information Request and Information Reply ICMP messages are obsolete. They
were used earlier by network nodes to determine their inter-network addresses, but are now
considered outdated and should not be used.
The Address Mask Request and Address Mask Reply ICMP messages are used to find
out the mask of a subnet (i.e. what address bits define a network address). A local node
sends an Address Mask Request to a gateway and receives an Address Mask Reply in
answer.
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques
96
Outpost Firewall Pro allows to control the following actions:
Components injection
Windows operating system by design enables installing system interceptors (hooks)
through which foreign code can be injected into other processes. Usually this technique is
used to perform common, legitimate actions, for example, switching the keyboard layout or
launching a PDF file within the web browser window. However, it can be likewise used by
malicious programs to embed malicious code and thus hijack the host application. An
example of leak test using such technique to stage a simulated attack is a PC Audit
program (
http://www.pcinternetpatrol.com/).
Outpost Firewall Pro controls the installation of a hook interceptor in a process's address
space. This is implemented via the interception of functions that are typically used by
malicious processes (Trojans, spyware, viruses, worms etc.) to implant their code into
legitimate processes (i.e. Internet Explorer or Firefox). The behavior of a DLL file
invoking such functions is considered suspicious and triggers legitimacy verification.
Control over another application
DDE technology is used to control applications. Most famous browsers are DDE servers
and can be used by malicious programs to transfer private information into the network.
One example of this technique is Surfer leak test
(
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest15.htm). ZABypass is another example of a
leak test using this method.
With Outpost Firewall Pro, every attempt to use the DDE intercommunication is monitored
with no exclusion, whether the process is open or not. DDE inter process communication
control enables Outpost Firewall Pro to control the methods used by applications to get
control over the legitimate processes. It prevents malware from hijacking the legitimate
program and checks whether such DDE-level interactivity is allowed to be performed upon
the network-enabled applications. In case such attempt is detected, it triggers legitimacy
verification.
Application window control
Windows allows applications to exchange window messages between processes. Malicious
processes can get control over other network-enabled applications sending them window
messages and imitating user input from keyboard and mouse clicks. The example of using
this technique is Breakout leaktest (
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest16.htm).
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques
97
Here the point is program interactivity through the SendMessage, PostMessage API, and so
on. This technique is sometimes used for legitimate inter-process interactivity, but can
likewise be used for nefarious purposes by perpetrators.
Outpost Firewall Pro controls such attempts.
Active Desktop modification
Installing the specific HTML file for Active Desktop, malicious processes can transfer
private data on behalf of Windows Explorer. The example of using this technique is
Breakout leaktest (
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest16.htm).
Outpost Firewall Pro controls such attempts to steal data by bamboozling the firewall.
DNS query submission
DNS Client service contains potential vulnerability called DNS tunneling. The main point
is that malicious code can transfer and receive any information using correct DNS packets
to the correctly configured operating DNS server. The example of using this technique is
DNSTester leaktest (http://www.klake.org/~jt/dnshell/).
Outpost Firewall Pro performs double verification of access to the DNS Client service,
providing a more secure system. This enables control access to DNS API even with the
DNS Client service on, benefiting users who, out of compatibility concerns, cannot disable
this service themselves. This functionality allows assigning permissions to a specific
process for using the DNS Client service.
Application launch with URL
Malicious processes can launch the default web browser with a pre-configured web address
in a hidden window, making the firewall believe a legitimate action is taking place.
Firewalls that explicitly trust an application without looking beyond on who actually
launched it in the first place and what additional connection parameters are supplied are
unable to challenge the technique, meaning sensitive data could leave the computer past
them. The examples of using this technique are Tooleaky and Ghost leak tests
(
http://www.firewallleak tester.com/leak test2.htm, http://www.firewallleak tester.com/leak
test13.htm).
Outpost Firewall Pro watches every program started on a computer and controls who has
the permission to start a program with a target URL and will prompt a user if such activity
should be permitted for a particular program.
Application launch with command line parameters
Several firewalls are exposed to a vulnerability of a predatory code launching the default
web browser with command-line parameters, allowing to circumvent the existing
protection because the firewall is made to believe the legitimate application is performing
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques
98
the legitimate actions. However, in those command-line parameters some piece of private
or critical data may be contained, along with the host name as a target recipient of
thereof. The example of using such technique is Wallbreaker leaktest
(
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest11.htm).
Outpost Firewall Pro provides the restricted list of processes that are allowed to start
default browser with command line parameters protecting your browser against tampering.
Beyond traditional browsers, command-line launch control applies to all network-enabled
applications which are present in the configuration.
Critical registry entry modification
Malicious processes can modify registry to get network access on behalf of other
application, for example, Windows Explorer. The example of using this technique is
Jumper leaktest (
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest17.htm).
These attempts are controlled by Outpost Firewall Pro . This proactive capability offers to
select whether you want to allow embedding an object into a certain area of the registry.
OLE application control
A relatively new technique to control applications' activity through the OLE mechanism (a
short form of Object Linking and Embedding command) - a Windows' mechanism which
allows one program to manage the behavior of another program on the computer. It uses
the technique of OLE intercommunication to exchange data and commands between
applications, for example, to manage activity of the Internet Explorer web browser so that
it can send user-specified data to the remote location. The example of using this technique
is PCFlank leaktest (
http://www.pcflank.com/PCFlankLeaktest.exe).
Outpost Firewall Pro detects an OLE communication and prompts a user whether it is
normal for the application to control other application's activity.
Process memory modification
Several Trojan horses and viruses use sophisticated techniques that let them alter the code
of trusted applications running in memory and thereby bypass the system security
perimeter and perform their malicious activities. This is also known as code injection or
copycat vulnerability. The examples of using this technique are Thermite and Copycat
leaktests (
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest8.htm,
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest9.htm).
Outpost Firewall Pro enables you to control the functions that can be used to write
malicious code into trusted application address space and so prevent a rogue process from
injecting their code into trusted processes. The entire memory space used by any active
application on a computer is scrutinized by Outpost Firewall Pro (not just that of a
network-enabled application). In case of malware trying to modify any legitimate
Appendix C: Penetration Techniques
99
application's memory, Outpost Firewall Pro detects it and display a pop-up prompt asking
for your decision. The system works proactively: it allows you to permit or deny the
modification of memory of other processes at the application level. For example, Visual
Studio 2005 would be able to modify memory, while the "copycat.exe" leak test would be
disallowed from doing so. This feature protects against even "unknown" malware not
detected by antivirus and anti-spyware vendors.
Low-level network access
Some network drivers allow direct access to network adapter bypassing the standard TCP
stack. These drivers can be used by sniffers and other malicious programs to get low-level
network access and pose an additional risk for the system as traffic passing through them
cannot be screened by a firewall. The example of using this technique is MBtest leak test
(
http://www.firewallleak tester.com/leak test10.htm).
Outpost Firewall Pro allows controlling applications requesting network access bypassing
standard methods. This feature strengthens the overall network security level preventing
outbound data leakage. The user is able to control an application's attempts to open a
network-enabled driver, meaning that without the user's authorization, an application is not
able to send even the ARP or IPX data.
Appendix D: Technical Support
Appendix D: Technical Support
100
If you need assistance in using Outpost firewall, visit its support pages at
http://www.agnitum.com/support/ page for available support options including knowledge
base, documentation, support forum, product-related web resources, and direct contact with
support engineers.
3

Hulp nodig? Stel uw vraag in het forum

Spelregels

Misbruik melden

Gebruikershandleiding.com neemt misbruik van zijn services uitermate serieus. U kunt hieronder aangeven waarom deze vraag ongepast is. Wij controleren de vraag en zonodig wordt deze verwijderd.

Product:

Bijvoorbeeld antisemitische inhoud, racistische inhoud, of materiaal dat gewelddadige fysieke handelingen tot gevolg kan hebben.

Bijvoorbeeld een creditcardnummer, een persoonlijk identificatienummer, of een geheim adres. E-mailadressen en volledige namen worden niet als privégegevens beschouwd.

Spelregels forum

Om tot zinvolle vragen te komen hanteren wij de volgende spelregels:

Belangrijk! Als er een antwoord wordt gegeven op uw vraag, dan is het voor de gever van het antwoord nuttig om te weten als u er wel (of niet) mee geholpen bent! Wij vragen u dus ook te reageren op een antwoord.

Belangrijk! Antwoorden worden ook per e-mail naar abonnees gestuurd. Laat uw emailadres achter op deze site, zodat u op de hoogte blijft. U krijgt dan ook andere vragen en antwoorden te zien.

Abonneren

Abonneer u voor het ontvangen van emails voor uw Outpost Firewall Versie 4.0 bij:


U ontvangt een email met instructies om u voor één of beide opties in te schrijven.


Ontvang uw handleiding per email

Vul uw emailadres in en ontvang de handleiding van Outpost Firewall Versie 4.0 in de taal/talen: Engels als bijlage per email.

De handleiding is 2,59 mb groot.

 

U ontvangt de handleiding per email binnen enkele minuten. Als u geen email heeft ontvangen, dan heeft u waarschijnlijk een verkeerd emailadres ingevuld of is uw mailbox te vol. Daarnaast kan het zijn dat uw internetprovider een maximum heeft aan de grootte per email. Omdat hier een handleiding wordt meegestuurd, kan het voorkomen dat de email groter is dan toegestaan bij uw provider.

Stel vragen via chat aan uw handleiding

Stel uw vraag over deze PDF

Uw handleiding is per email verstuurd. Controleer uw email

Als u niet binnen een kwartier uw email met handleiding ontvangen heeft, kan het zijn dat u een verkeerd emailadres heeft ingevuld of dat uw emailprovider een maximum grootte per email heeft ingesteld die kleiner is dan de grootte van de handleiding.

Er is een email naar u verstuurd om uw inschrijving definitief te maken.

Controleer uw email en volg de aanwijzingen op om uw inschrijving definitief te maken

U heeft geen emailadres opgegeven

Als u de handleiding per email wilt ontvangen, vul dan een geldig emailadres in.

Uw vraag is op deze pagina toegevoegd

Wilt u een email ontvangen bij een antwoord en/of nieuwe vragen? Vul dan hier uw emailadres in.



Info