- Platform: Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / Me / 95
- Media: CD-ROM
- Item Quantity: 1
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Product Details
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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
In the good old days of computing--i.e., the early '90s--the only fears the average user had from hacker attacks were viruses passed from PC to PC via floppy disks like a traditional cold. Now, with everyone hacking and coughing in the same giant room of the World Wide Web, your system's become vulnerable to Trojan Horse attacks, back-door affronts, and the same plain old viruses that are now much easier to catch.
So it's a good idea--especially if you have an always-on connection, such as cable access or DSL--to provide yourself with some protection. That's where Network ICE's BlackICE Defender comes in. This personal firewall, now in version 2.1, is relatively inexpensive, easy to configure, and unobtrusive to your daily use. And, if you really want to find out who's after you, BlackICE contains the tools to allow you to attempt to trace your intruders back to the source.
Setup takes only a few minutes and then it's up and running at a default level of protection, Cautious (it goes up to Nervous and then Paranoid, but the higher settings could interfere with your normal Web or home network activities). You can leave it alone, and it will record any attempts to probe or connect to your system as well as alert you when the attempts occur. A visit to the Shield's UP! page at Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com), which simulates various hacker attacks, showed that Cautious was more than enough to ward off even strong attempts to infiltrate.
Earlier versions of BlackICE met with complaints about the difficult-to-understand interface. While 2.1 still contains some technical terms, it also uses the advICE feature to open a Web site that explains each type of hack attempt, from innocent attempts to connect to a standard HTTP server to more coercive SubSeven Trojan Horse attacks.
Unlike a lot of other firewalls, BlackICE keeps track of any information it can glean from intruders and stores it, allowing you to report serious offenders to your ISP. You can also block or trust specific intruders, so you won't be bothered by other networked PCs that you know should have access to your system.
While BlackICE isn't as easy to use as some other firewalls, it's much easier than it used to be and it offers much more powerful tools for those users who want to fight back against hackers. --J. Curtis
Amazon.com Product Description
Dialup access, DSL, or cable modems--even personal gateways and network appliances--give hackers the ability to penetrate the security of your computer. Using revolutionary antihacker technology, BlackICE Defender combines firewall and intrusion detection technologies to deliver protection for home users, stopping hackers from accessing your PC any time you're on the Internet. With easy-to-configure levels of protection, you can install and configure this technology in a matter of seconds and customize to the level of protection you need. Customize your firewall security settings in seconds in four easy-to-understand levels: Paranoid, Nervous, Cautious, and Trusting. BlackICE's intrusion detection system inspects all inbound and outbound traffic, automatically filtering out any malicious packets.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Black Ice Defender is mediocre at best.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Ice Defender (CD-ROM)
in the past I have used many different firewalls. The famous "Atguard", Zonealarm, and now Black ice. I spent [$] on it, it said that it stops hackers cold. I frequently visit a web site called "shields up", it tries to probe your ports and test your security. using Black Ice, it was sucsessful in probing port 139, and NETBios. (thats not good), and I found that I was not in full stealth mode. Using the free Zonealarm firewall, all of your ports are in full stealth mode, however recent rumors suggesting that zonealarm may actually be spyware convinced me to get rid of it. In addition to Black Ice, I downloaded a free firewall called "Tiny Personal Firewall", it is very good, and makes my ports invisible, just as zonealarm. Another problem I had after intstalling Black Ice, is that my PC would just turn off, and I would get kicked off the internet often, also, since I have had it, it hasnt picked up a single hacker, and I have it set on "paranoid" mode, however the Tiny Persoanl firewall, has picked up, and blocked a number of attemps made by hackers to get into my system. If I could do it again, I would have saved my [$]. Dont but Black Ice. Download "Tiny Persoanl Firewall"....its good, and it's free! :)
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Product,
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Ice Defender (CD-ROM)
This product works as advertised and provides excellent protection. I have had the internet hack sites try to break into my home machine and they fail every time. BlackICE is also configurable to meet almost any requirement. I do not understand the negative reviews as we have numerous machines running the product. I would much rather BlackICE stop a possible attack than let it continue.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the money (maybe) - if you can get it for free,
By zlionsfan (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Ice Defender (CD-ROM)
BlackIce Defender is, well, adequate as a firewall. That's part of the problem - if you ask the company, you'll discover that that's not the purpose of the program. Instead, it functions more as an intrusion detection system. It is easy to install, and fairly easy to configure, but that's about all it does. It certainly stops low-level attacks, like port 80 scans, but if you get a more involved probe, like a SubSeven probe, BlackIce Defender doesn't block it. Instead, it lets the probe happen, then tells you that someone was looking for something but couldn't find it. That's kind of like having a car alarm that tells you when someone is checking out your car but decided it wasn't worth stealing (okay, it's not a perfect analogy).Sure, you can block specific IP addresses, or allow only certain IP addresses ... but if you want to block every SubSeven probe, for example, you have to wait to be probed, then tell BlackIce not to let that person through again. Small consolation. Also, the interface that displays the most recent attacks is somewhat buggy - it wasn't unusual for me to be paging through attacks, blocking IP addresses who had probed me, when the list would suddenly shrink to the last 20 or 30 addresses. I'd have to flip back to the attacks page, page down a few times, and back to the address page
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