Firewall Turns 25 This Month


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July 24th, 2014, 22:47 GMT · By Ionut Ilascu
 
 



Evolution of firewall technology and events that shaped it
 Back in 1989, the first firewall was introduced by the AT&T Bell Labs. It performed stateful packet inspection based on technology developed by engineers from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) a year before.

However, things are not as clear as they appear as far as the father of the firewall is concerned because many researchers have contributed to what evolved into today’s network security solution that offers protection both as a software and as a hardware-based system.

One thing is certain, though, the concept and the technology, no matter how rudimentary, were introduced in the late ‘80s. Full Article 
 

15 replies

Userlevel 7
Here's a challenge.......how many firewalls (by name) have you used up to the current date?
This is my list:
1.McAfee
2 Norton
3Outpost
4Comodo
5 Avast
6 Bifdefender
7 OnLine Armor
8 ZoneAlarm
9 Kaspersky
10Kerio
11 Bullguard
12Jetico
There are some  I can't even remember since 1999........................currently using Windows Firewall.......................so which is the best????  IMO what suits your needs............
 
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Well for me just 3:
 
Norton
Look`n`Stop and I still use it with WSA`s smart Firewall (Lifetime License and not being developed anymore so Win 7 is the last OS for it)
Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall.
 
I have tried Online Armor but too noisy and I would never try Comodo for certain personal reasons.
Outpost Pro I have a Lifetime License but never tried it but why the need? With Win 8 all third party firewalls use the same API`s from Windows Firewall so it`s best just to run Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall right? Also WSA's Firewall on Win 8 and up it's great that's why you are missing some WSA Firewall settings on Win 8 as Webroot doesn't waste it's time to use the same API's as Windows Firewall again because it has all the settings in WF on Win 8 already.
 
Daniel 😉
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@ wrote:
Well for me just 3:
 
Norton
Look`n`Stop and I still use it with WSA`s smart Firewall (Lifetime License and not being developed anymore so Win 7 is the last OS for it)
Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall.
 
I have tried Online Armor but too noisy and I would never try Comodo for certain personal reasons.
Outpost Pro I have a Lifetime License but never tried it but why the need? With Win 8 all third party firewalls use the same API`s from Windows Firewall so it`s best just to run Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall right? Also WSA's Firewall on Win 8 and up it's great https:///t5/Webroot-SecureAnywhere-Complete/windows-8-missing-firewall-options/m-p/111120#M7103 as Webroot doesn't waste it's time to use the same API's as Windows Firewall again because it has all the settings in WF on Win 8 already.
 
Daniel ;)
Point well made Daniel WSA smart Firewall and Windows Firewall is  great I have the same on my pc and no problems whatsoever.:D
Userlevel 6
@Antus67 wrote:
@ wrote:
Well for me just 3:
 
Norton
Look`n`Stop and I still use it with WSA`s smart Firewall (Lifetime License and not being developed anymore so Win 7 is the last OS for it)
Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall.
 
I have tried Online Armor but too noisy and I would never try Comodo for certain personal reasons.
Outpost Pro I have a Lifetime License but never tried it but why the need? With Win 8 all third party firewalls use the same API`s from Windows Firewall so it`s best just to run Windows Firewall with WSA`s smart Firewall right? Also WSA's Firewall on Win 8 and up it's great that's why you are missing some WSA Firewall settings on Win 8 as Webroot doesn't waste it's time to use the same API's as Windows Firewall again because it has all the settings in WF on Win 8 already.
 
Daniel ;)
Point well made Daniel WSA smart Firewall and Windows Firewall is  great I have the same on my pc and no problems whatsoever.:D
On my laptop I have win 8.1 and I use only WSA "s smart Firewall and Windows FIrewall.
 
In the past, on my desktops that I had, I used Norton on 1 of them and tried Zone Alarm.once on another.
 
 
 
 
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While I cannot compete with Antus I have used several Firewalls as well until now which were included with a security suite they were (not in order of preference):
Norton
Kaspersky
Eset
Panda
and now WSA's
 
In case you are wondering my least favourite was Panda and the one I had most trouble with was Norton.
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Hi Jasper  there no need to compete  I was running most of these firewalls on my test computer and comparing the features at the time the firewalls came out............over a period of years I have piles and piles of notes I made on all of these, this has been a passion of mind. I also agree with you I disliked Norton as well as Panda;)
Userlevel 7
Well, I will add to the list as I have used:
 
ZoneAlarm
Sygate
TinyFirewall
Sphynx
 
but all of them a long, long time ago before moving to KIS.
 
Of all the ones I have used in the past the best IMHO where Kerio & Sygate...but then I was an inveterate tweaker...not not really anymore...;)
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Aww I didn't see PANDA...I was a fan years back but they got rather expensive .. 😉 oops I see it in Antus67! Scanned right over it!
Userlevel 7
Happy birthday to Firewall.

I've used:

Private Firewall
Outpost
Comodo
Online Armor
AVG
avast
McAfee (only because it came free with my pc)
Sygate
Keiro

Now I use WSA's fw with Win FW.:)
Userlevel 6
I'm not a big fan of client firewalls and WF can offer a sufficient security. Besides WF I've used comodo some time ago because of their great HIPS.
In a consumer environment you have a router firewall and in an enterprise environment a dedicated hardware firewall or UTM should be implemented.
 @Daniel: As a security MVP I wonder what your standard alternative to TMG is. 
 
 
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@
What's TMG? I know about TMZ lol.
Userlevel 7
I believe that it stands for Threat Management Gateway (TMG)...for your information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Internet_Security_and_Acceleration_Server#Microsoft_Forefront_Threat_Management_Gateway_.28TMG.29
 
😉
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Ah I understand now. Thanks a lot.:)
Userlevel 6
Baldrick is right; Forefront Threat Management Gateway is or was a network security solution from Microsoft.
Userlevel 7
Okay got it. Thanks.:)

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