Tiny Software, Inc. announced the availability of the all new Tiny Personal Firewall 4.0. 

Tiny Personal Firewall represents smart, easy-to-use personal security technology that fully protects personal computers against hackers. It is built on the proven WinRoute Pro, ICSA certified security technology. Tiny Personal Firewall is also an integral part in Tiny Software's new Centrally Managed Desktop Security (CMDS) system awarded a contract by the US Air Force to encompass about 500,000 desktop computers. The following descriptions demonstrate the simplicity of use, yet powerful features of Tiny Personal Firewall.

Intrusion Detection
Personal Firewall includes an easy-to-use wizard that detects unknown activity and prompts the user for setup information. After the setup is complete, a new rule is applied to the filter rules list. This option may be disabled.

Application Filter
To protect from Trojan horse and other unauthorized applications, Personal Firewall includes an application filter. The wizard will detect when an application attempts to bind to a port for communication and create a filter rule based on the users input. Users may permit applications manually from the filter rules. Tiny Personal Firewall also provides a database of common applications that use known ports.

MD5 Signature Support
To ensure that Trojan horse applications cannot pose as a trusted application, Tiny Personal Firewall offers the option to check for an MD5 digital signature for trusted applications.

Syslog
Log information can be sent to a central syslog server for reporting purposes. This too will be an integral component of Tiny Software's new centrally managed desktop security system used by the US Air Force.

Trusted Addresses
Users may create filtering rules that apply to user-defined, trusted address groups. Multiple address groups, based on a single IP, a subnet, or range may be created in the "trustful addresses".

Remote/Secure Administration
In addition to login authentication, Tiny Personal Firewall allows for full remote configuration of security policies. This will be an important element for the centrally managed desktop security system as it will allow remote configuration of each user's security policies through a centrally managed console server.

Time Intervals
Filter rules can be arranged so that they are only valid during specific hours.

Tiny Personal Firewall includes many other firewall features and is an ideal security solution for home/business stand-alone and network computers.

Sandbox in General

With TPF4 you can create a closed environment (sandbox) around any application and restrict its access to your computer's resources as well as its ability to communicate to the Internet. Within this closed environment any code can run and access calls of the application to system resources. Drivers, the registry database (all configurations), and the file system are shielded and constantly monitored to protect the privacy and integrity of your system.

When installing TPF4, the program scans the workstation for already installed or known applications. In addition, it sets up a pre-configured default sandboxes around the most common Web browsers, email clients, and a restricted area for unknown. This process may take up several minutes - please be patient during the installation.

Preventing Damage BEFORE it Happens

The significant advantage of the application protection of TPF4 is that it is not signature based. TPF4 checks for the application activities and does not base its security mechanism on a comparison with a database of hostile applet references. It checks all actions and access to resources, but only suspicious or unwanted actions are blocked. Hence, it is a behavior checker, which not only protects against intended hostile attacks, but also against unintentional bugs in applications. Any other application within your user environment can run and access resources without being restricted by TPF. You can view which components are installed and running on your computer, where they came from, monitor what an application does, and which resources it accesses.

TPF4 adds a security perimeter within a Windows workstation, transparently layers it into your operating system, and integrates into existing network security solutions. With this security, TPF protects against flaws and holes within the security mechanisms of the Web browser, the Java virtual machine and the any application in the operating system.

Replacement or the Addition to Your Virus Scan Software?

TPF4 does not replace your virus scan software, it complements it. Imagine virus scan software as a doctor - it removes infected files or their portions once it KNOWS the infection. However, in todays world when the viruses are spread across the internet in a matter of minutes it would be too late most of the times and damage would already happened.

TPF4's sandbox adds the new significant layer of protection since it protects your PC BEFORE the infection is known. The sandbox stops virus or trojan which made it to your computer immediately and instantly. Essentially it buys the time for virus scan companies to identify virus and post the update for virus scan engines so the virus or trojan may be removed later on.

Standard Network Firewall

TPF4 includes bi-directional stateful packet inspection firewall which combines NDIS (network layer) and TDI (application layer) information in order to determine the rights of processes to communicate with the outside world and block all unwanted traffic.

Tiny Personal Firewall 4.0 Components

TPF4 consists of a series of executables, DLLs and kernel drivers to protect the different parts of your system. Each component fulfills a certain task, which builds a bulletproof protective wall around your system.

• TPF4 Agent

The agent, which displays information to the user, is the interface to the TPF4 security solution. It also monitors restricted access to the system's environment and resources.

• TPF4 kernel components

The kernel components deliver extended protection against certain low–level accesses, and protect the TPF4 runtime environment.

• TPF4 Administrator Tool