The Security Mentor

Firewall programs like Zone Alarm and Black Ice Defender are written to meet market demands. Market demands lead to haste. Haste leads to bugs. Bugs lead to security problems. Security problems lead to .... suffering.

Black Ice made the news when one of its bugs spread the "Witty" worm. Zone Alarm had a quieter problem earlier this year which could have allowed bad people to take control of a machine running Zone Alarm.

The good news is that both vendors are responsive and responsible. Black Ice already had a fix by the time the Witty worm came out. Zone Labs fixed Zone Alarm within days after they heard about their bug.

The bad news is that you have to install the updates. Security is like staying healthy: you've got to keep working out all the time.

What about firewall appliance boxes? Well, those are just small computers running a firewall program. You need to update them every now and then. Every few months, check the manufacturer's web site for "firmware upgrades".

Don't panic, and keep running your firewall. No matter what, you're better off with it than without it.