Agnitum Directions (30 June, 2006)



· Product update: Beta testing of Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0

· New features: Self-protection feature in Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0

· Entertainment: FIFA World Cup 2006 Quiz

· Special Offer: award winning WinRAR 3.51 – get 15% percent off!

Product update: Beta testing of Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0

This month was devoted to the beta testing of Outpost 4.0. We asked our beta testers to give us their opinions so far, and it seems everyone agrees that the latest version of Outpost delivers a high level of protection. Even in its beta version, Outpost is reported to be very stable, with only minor bugs that can easily be fixed before the final release.


Here are some of the comments we received:

On the anti-leak features

The anti-leak functionality is at the core of the new Outpost 4.0 release. It provides proactive defense against all known existing techniques for stealing information from a user’s PC via unauthorized channels.



· “Very safe, passes all firewall tests that are available (as far as I know)…”

· “... it seems to be a safer product…”

· “Huge improvement with the anti-leak component, which (finally) allows finer control of permissions/restrictions per process…”

· “Passes 100% leak tests…”



On the entertainment mode

When you’re playing games or watching a movie online, you don’t want to be interrupted by requests from your firewall to make a decision about allowing or rejecting a particular connection. So Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 offers an “entertainment mode” that suppresses firewall pop-up messages when specific programs (the list is customizable) are running. Switching to entertainment mode does not affect the security level of the firewall. The entertainment mode was met with applause—which only goes to show that even beta testers play games ;-)



· “…Great addition…”

· “…a must-have for gamers…”



On the support for 64-bit operating systems

Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 lets all users of 64-bit operating systems experience the full advantages of the firewall’s proactive defenses.



· “like the x64 support…”

· “I really like the x64 move Agnitum has made…”



The final release of Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 is scheduled for late July 2006 and will deliver the highest level in firewall defense available today. Check back at our website at www.agnitum.com for the latest updates.



New features: Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 protects itself

Let’s take a brief look at malware evolution. In the early days of viruses and other malicious applications, most malware programs were written by people who simply wanted to show off their programming skills rather than cause actual damage to people’s lives and businesses. Then came the era of spyware and keyloggers, when malware began to steal data on command, which necessitated different defense techniques. 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. That’s the point at which it became necessary for security software to protect itself.

Firewalls protect inbound and outbound traffic. But who protects the firewall?

In response to this challenging question, Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 features a new self-protection mode. With self-protection turned on, Outpost 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 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. This self-protection enables Outpost to erect a so-called “defense shield” around itself and all of its components.


This self-protection mode can be turned off, but only manually, and only by the authorized user. This disabling is required for the installation of plug-ins and other advanced functions, but should be re-enabled as soon as the changes have been made.

Just keeps getting better!