Introducing Agnitum's Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 03, 2006 – PRESS RELEASE



For immediate release :

Introducing Agnitum's Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0



The Ultimate in Proactive Protection for Windows PCs





London, 27 September 2006 - Agnitum, Europe’s leading developer of personal firewalls and an acknowledged expert in PC security, today announces the release of the latest version of Outpost Firewall Pro, the award-winning Internet security software.



Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 offers powerful protection against spyware, keyloggers, Trojans and other malicious code, as well as protecting users’ personal information from being stolen and preventing wireless networks from being hijacked by unauthorized users.



"Outpost has always been recognized for its heavy-duty security,” says Mikhail Penkovsky, V.P. Sales and Marketing at Agnitum. “With the release of version 4.0, we are giving our customers a never-before-seen level of protection for their private information. Like any responsible security software vendor, we would never claim to provide 100 percent protection, but we believe we are delivering as close to 100 percent protection as possible with today’s technology—certainly much stronger protection than users will get from Microsoft’s OneCare firewall.”



Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 provides this high level of protection with a range of new and improved tools, including support for 64-bit operating systems.



Strengthened anti-leak functionality prevents all known methods of exploiting operating system vulnerability that make unauthorized outbound data transfers. Leak tests, which measure a firewall’s effectiveness in preventing the leak of personal information through outbound filters, are fully addressed with this new release.

Spyware protection has been significantly improved over previous versions and now blocks all known malicious applications. Additional protection against unknown malicious applications has been added with the forced scanning of all applications before they are permitted to execute. To do this, Outpost simulates execution of the program in a closed ‘sandbox’ and tests it for legitimacy before permitting or blocking its actual execution. System performance is unaffected.

An improved ImproveNet automatically distributes verified rule sets for permitted application actions to Outpost users. Version 4 adds a new set of rules to govern local application interactions on the user’s PC, giving a greater level of control over local processes that avoid hijacking of legitimate applications.



Improved usability has been achieved with a new “Entertainment Mode.” Outpost prompts are suppressed and access decisions taken automatically in the background when users are playing online games, watching movies or engaging in other activities on the PC that they don’t want interrupted. Advanced users can also benefit from using macro definitions to customize adaptive firewall rules.



Self-protection technology prevents Outpost from being deactivated by viruses, Trojans or spyware, even through the simulation of keystrokes that would cause the firewall to be shut down. Outpost continuously monitors its own files on the hard drive, as well as registry entries, memory status and running services, and blocks any attempted changes by malicious applications.



“Agnitum’s mission has always been to provide users with the most powerful security protection without sacrificing the ease of use that enables them to benefit from that protection,” says Alexey Belkin, chief software architect at Agnitum. “This new release is the most complete realization of that mission today, and we will continue to build on it in future versions.”



Pricing and availability

Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 costs £27.20 plus vat for a single-user license and runs under Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/x64. It is available online through the Agnitum website and through the company’s worldwide network of resellers and distribution partners. Evaluation copies may also be downloaded from the company’s website at http://www.agnitum.com/.



About Agnitum

Founded in 1999, Agnitum Ltd. (www.agnitum.com) is committed to delivering and supporting high-quality, easy to use security software. The company’s headline products are Outpost Firewall Pro, securing personal and family desktops, and Outpost Network Security, ensuring reliable endpoint protection and performance for small business networks.



Press Contact:
Lisette Vanrykel
lvanrykel@agnitum.com
+44 (0) 845 226 11 87