comp.security.firewalls Trolls

You should know what a troll is about or the mindset of a troll before you start calling someone a troll.

Duane :)

;-) You're just wrong here. These even all are real names.

VB.

The following jackasses are the worst uneducated cocksuckers and douche bags on usenet:

- Aratzio

He wrote:

Searching at wwwkeys.pgp.net: snipped-for-privacy@seppig.de Keys found: A0E28D18 Sebastian Gottschalk 9CB03193 (not mine)

WOOT, signed by Werner Koch (the maintainer of GnuPG) himself! (and this helps a lot reducing the length of the verification path)

Same procedure as above.

Clearly you're even too stupid to do some integral verificiation.

I believe you are the troll, and your language does nothing to prove = your superior level of education. These men (or women, whoever they are), tend to be a tad terse, brusque = in their replies. Like an odd sort of humor, it takes an acquiring of a = taste for. I have gotten used to it and have found myself LMAO. Or, you = could interpret it as a playful bantering, no harm done. Get a life!

Men - you can rest assured on that :-)

We don't even hide behind pseudonymous Nicknames, unlike the Troll.

Juergen Nieveler

Very well then Sir. Thank you for the clarification.

Terry aka tevan

Even if what you say is partly correct, killfiling them only keeps you from seeing their replies, what would be better is some kind of script or something that would reply to any post any of them made - putting forth your opinion(s) there - so that the OP would realize that there was at least a dissenting view.

script or

Does anybody know of a newsgroup dedicated to discussion and configuration of personal firewalls? This one seems to be dedicated to putting people off firewalls. Was it always?

charlie R

charlie R

You know it would be great to have

comp.security.software.firewalls comp.security.hardware.firewalls

to separate them out. I'm far more interested in the latter than the former.

-Russ.

I don't know. I think this is a good place for both.

While there are plenty of firewall snobs, who seem to think that if you don't know as much as them, you're an asshole, there are plenty of posters that will point out why software firewalls are not the *best* way to go, in an educated way.

Newsgroups, among other things, are supposed to provide a venue where those with knowledge educate those without.

Operative phrase: "supposed to"

Notan

First off, "personal firewalls" are no firewalls, but host-based packet filters. You know the difference. For the second, they are very very lousy implementations of such. For the third, they add illusionary functions (like application control, privacy filtering which actually leaks the information, auto-blocking) that are unrelated to both firewalls and security (except that they claim security).

If you want to discuss about real firewalls and real security, then you're absolutely right here. But if you just like to hear what you want to hear, you might be better of in the PFW vendors' support forums.

I'm not making any judgements either way about any of that, just pointing out that I feel like hardware firewalls and software firewalls are quite different discussion items, and I have more of an interest in one than the other. I'd just as soon not have to wade through the software stuff looking for hardware discussions. Both are valid discussion groups, just in my view, different and separate.

-Russ.

"hardware" firewalls are also implemented in software, it's just that the hardware is dedicated.

The most serious discussion is about software implementations and configuration.

While I see your point, I think there's more of an overlap than you suggest.

The hardware firewallers appear to have a much better grasp on the limitations of software firewalls than you'd find in a "software only" firewall group.

Now, if we could just get them to teach, rather than lecture!

Notan

I don't know of any newsgroups, but you might try some of the forums. For example Wilders or Broadband Reports. A lot of forums have specific firewall sections which are mostly discussing software firewalls.

Allright, let me be more exact for those that like to pick.

I would like to separate the discussion of Personal Firewall Software that runs on one's workstation, from Firewall Appliances that run at the edge of one's network.

Is that clear enough?

Norton Internet Security, Kerios, and the like are an utterly different discussion from PIX and NetScreen.

-Russ.

There is overlap indeed, they both deal with network traffic. Software that comes on a CD for your workstation is still a different animal than a firewall appliance that cost $20k in my mind.

Having watched the discussions around PFW software for months, I find little draw to participate. Hardware firewall discussions I find interesting. They're different is all I'm saying, but I'm not going to make a federal case out of it. :-)

-Russ.

Could you please shorten this a bit? Kthxbye

No. Personal Firewalls aren't the only implementations of host-based packet filters (running on the client), but only the most stupid and unserious. Serious implementation can be a part of a serious security concept, even involving interaction with a firewall appliance at the perimeter.

And what about netfilter running on a Linux workstation? Building redundant firewalls with pf on OpenBSD? Kerio WinRoute or ISA Server

While this may come across as snippy, it's not meant to be... Why don't you just ignore the software-related threads?

Notan