Ten questions to Firewall' Developer: Tiny Software

October 9, 2001

Ben Haidri, VP Business Development of Tiny Software answers PC Flank' questions about Tiny personal firewall and Internet Security.

PC Flank:
There are many firewalls on the market. What distinguishes Tiny Personal firewall from the other products?
Ben Haidri:
Application filtering, MD5 Signature check for applications, bi-directional, stateful packet inspection, granularity of filtering (on any protocol, any remote/local address/port). Remote administration.

Pc Flank:
What was your major goal for Tiny Personal firewall when you started developing it?
Ben Haidri:
We saw the increase in persistent-connections for home use such as DSL and cable modems. We wanted to provide a level of security in these environments for end users, especially the home user.

PC Flank:
How do you rank your product with the other personal firewalls?
Ben Haidri:
We feel Tiny Personal Firewall is one of the best. Unfortunately, the market is crowded with a lot of firewalls that provide only limited protection.

PC Flank:
What firewall software do you consider your rivals?
Ben Haidri:
ZoneLabs' ZoneAlarm product is another good personal firewall. We consider them on par with us.

PC Flank:What features should every firewall have?
Ben Haidri:
Stateful packet inspection, bi-directional, application checking (MD5) and support for application-specific filtering, remote administration, and reporting (via syslog).

PC Flank:
What features do you plan to add to Tiny Personal firewall?
Ben Haidri:
Possibly additional platform support, IDS, and improved remote administration. (We have these already with our corporate product: CMDS).

PC Flank:
What do you think is the future of personal firewalls?
Ben Haidri:
Over time, this technology will move lower and lower into the infrastructure of the PC: integration with the OS, then the NIC, then chip-level should all emerge as trends over time.

PC Flank:
Why are so many firewalls being developed worldwide? Does it mean the industry can't produce "the perfect software"?
Ben Haidri:
The main reason so many vendors have jumped into this market is due to the shift in focus that it brings. Security has been focused on the perimeter of a corporation. With the realization that corporate PCs are no longer 'safe' behind the DMZ of a company due to telecommuting, remote and roaming employees, a shift in focus to the desktop has taken place. This opens up a huge market for security vendors to go after.
Another reason this is a hot market right now is that the need is obvious to the customers and well as the security vendors- so money can be made. (Many times security vendors are ahead of their markets with technology… waiting for the customers to realize they have a problem).

PC Flank:
What security measures do you recommend to all Internet users?
Ben Haidri:
Install a personal firewall; keep software products updated to the latest versions/patches to minimize security holes; understand the security features of your browser (and use them!); and finally, try not to use the same username/password for your various internet accounts, and change the passwords on a regular basis.

PC Flank:
What major threats from the Internet should ordinary users be aware of?
Ben Haidri
Port scans, trojans, email viruses, identity theft.


Tiny Software official web site:
http://www.tinysoftware.com/