Jul 8 2003
Intego NetBarrier X
Few of us appreciate the underlying power of OS X’s UNIX core. Along with the unique stability and powerful tools comes the potential for invasion. There are plenty of ways for others to do damage to your system or even your bank account.
NetBarrier from Intego is an OS X native application that gives you several layers of control. It is more than a simple firewall. It provides comprehensive barriers to those who would do your system harm.
First off, NetBarrier’s firewall gives you port by port control over what enters and exits your system. WIth pre-labeled settings, you can be sure to preserve your existing IP-based services while closing up potential leaks in your system. The firewall also includes a log, so you can observe violation attempts.
Antivandal controls stop a whole series of hacker tools including port scans, rogue packets and all kinds of ping attacks. A trusted group can be established to prevent exclusion of your friends. Automatic “stop lists” can blacklist repeat offenders. Alerts can be sent to you via email in addition to the alert dialogues.
Through privacy controls, NetBarrier keeps tab on your most personal information (like Social Security numbers and bank accounts) and prevents them from leaving your computer. NetBarrier even cracks down on cookies, ad banners and spam.
In the logging area, you’ll find a series of gauges and charts that keep tabs on your IP traffic. One handy feature you’ll find in the logging section is the automatic whois verification. NetBarrier translated cryptic IP addresses into domain names you will recognize.
NetBarrier is one of the most comprehensive solutions for Internet security. Because of the power and complexity of some of the tools, better documentation could help those of us who aren’t IT admins. Also, unless you are on an unprotected, always-on Internet connection, some of these tools might be overkill.
In fine-tuning your firewall settings you’ll be frustrated that the log doesn’t record port numbers of denied access attempts.
Apart from that, I think you’ll find NetBarrier a great value for the price. Those of you who have concerns about the security of your connection will rest easy with these tools at work.
MSRP: $59.95 5-User Pack: $179.95
Also available as part of the Intego Internet Security Barrier suite for $99.95