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Oct 13th, 2008, 9:37pm
   Mischel Internet Security Forum
   Internet Security
   Firewalls (Moderators: Helena, Gavin_Coe, Magnus)
   Firewall for Notebooks		 « Previous topic | Next topic »
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   Author  Topic: Firewall for Notebooks  (Read 741 times)
lekei
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Firewall for Notebooks
« on: Jul 12th, 2005, 2:19pm »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
I am looking for a lightweight firewall for portable computers. The biggest issues that I am trying to find solutions for are:
 
Most of the big-name firewalls are such resource hogs that they have almost as much an effect on performance as half of the threats they are designed to keep out.
 
Your wireless or wired connection could be connected to a trusted (your network), relatively-untrusted (Internet cafe or client's office where you still need access to the printer or even a file server), or seriously dirty (random access point, cable-modem-under-test, dial-up) network at any time. In many cases, the IP range of these networks could be the same. Most firewalls determine the zone by IP, not SSID+BSSID, MAC address or network/computer name.
 
I often go to clients (home/SOHO users) and find that they are thinking XP "firewall" will protect them, yet they have networking enabled on their wireless because they need to print or access files at home.
 
Many people with Windows 9x/2000 machines don't run a firewall because they can't handle the resource (I have seen it use 50 MB RAM!) overhead of products like Zone Alarm.
« Last Edit: Jul 12th, 2005, 2:22pm by lekei » IP Logged
mozar
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Re: Firewall for Notebooks
« Reply #1 on: Jul 12th, 2005, 3:35pm »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
 Hello  and  welcome ,   lekei
 
  You  could  take  a  look  at  8Signs  FW  ;  among  other  things ,  it  uses  +/- 5 Mb  of  RAM  after  24 hours  of  usage ....
 
http://www.8signs.com/
 
  Regards  ,
 
     mozar
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Ian
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Re: Firewall for Notebooks
« Reply #2 on: Jul 12th, 2005, 4:34pm »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
The worst of it is - you'll almost certainly need to part with cash. I trialled a similar thing two years ago (trying to create our school network as 'trusted', but I went a stage further and locked the WiFi to our tri-band network and didn't let anyone access home wireless). I couldn't get any of the freebie FWs to discriminate properly between the dial-up modem, home routers and work, let alone more exotic stuff like USB BlueTooth kit or Firewire connections.
 
In truth, I gave up because time ran out and I had to get on with my other full-time job as a teacher. However, you definitely need something that can handle rules properly (which the paid-for versions of ZA can, resource issue aside). http://forum.misec.net/board/Firewalls/1066939757
If we'd gone as far as finishing the test (in the end I gave up and just told everyone that home-use was a no-no) then 8Signs would have been the one. In the mean time, we've since found out that ZA, Sygate and 8Signs all work alongside the Windows XP thingy, so some refinement of the freebie 'walls (particularly ZAF) can be achieved - for example, ZAF can lock down a PC tightly, but can't deal with port 80 requests to IIS without opening all ports to that app - used alongside the WinXP one, this can be achieved. Paid-for versions can handle this sort of thing easily, but it's nice to know there's a cheapskate option available now!
 
HTH
« Last Edit: Jul 12th, 2005, 4:35pm by Ian » IP Logged
... but crap arrives pretty much straight away.
lekei
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Re: Firewall for Notebooks
« Reply #3 on: Jul 12th, 2005, 4:35pm »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
Interesting, thanks, but appears to have no zone by SSID and fairly expensive to try out.
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Ian
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Re: Firewall for Notebooks
« Reply #4 on: Jul 12th, 2005, 4:40pm »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
Yeah, which is why we went down the lines of fixing the WiFi IP to our IP range - kills the option for using it in Starbucks, which is a downside.
 
Here's a thought - have you l;ooked at the NetOp Firewall product? It's specifically aimed at businesses and may offer the flexibility you need... http://www.netop.com/netop-14.htm
 
Alternatively, you may need to look at hardware profiles to handle switching from 'at work' to 'roaming' setups, if all else fails.
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myluvnttl
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Re: Firewall for Notebooks
« Reply #5 on: Aug 11th, 2005, 12:40am »		 Quote Quote  Modify Modify
Right now I'm using Outpost and it used about 10meg of memory and I'm using a notebook with Win Server 2003. One of the great feature I like is the pop-blocker.  
 
There is Tiny Firewall 2005. I've used that and like it a lots but it's very hard to set-up and get all the "rules" right, what is good is the "process guard feature"
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