Outpost Firewall 2.7: User Guide
Outpost Firewall 2.7: User Guide
Reference
Agnitum
Abstract
This is the complete and detailed reference to the Outpost Firewall PRO 2.7 software.
For an entry-level guide, please see the Quick Start Guide. Please note that if you are using
Outpost Firewall FREE or a version other than 2.7, then some dialogs and settings will
differ.
Table of Contents
Part 1: For All Users .......................................................................................... 6
1
AN ORIENTATION .................................................................................................................................... 10
2.1 THE SYSTEM TRAY ICON .......................................................................................................................... 10
2.2 OUTPOST FIREWALLS MAIN WINDOW ..................................................................................................... 11
2.3 THE PANELS .............................................................................................................................................. 12
2.4 THE TOOLBAR ........................................................................................................................................... 15
PLUG-INS .................................................................................................................................................... 32
4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 32
4.2 AD BLOCKING ........................................................................................................................................... 34
4.3 ACTIVE CONTENT BLOCKING ................................................................................................................... 38
4.4 ATTACK DETECTION ................................................................................................................................. 41
4.5 E-MAIL ATTACHMENT QUARANTINE........................................................................................................ 45
4.6 DNS CACHE.............................................................................................................................................. 47
4.7 CONTENT FILTERING................................................................................................................................. 49
4.8 BROWSER ADJUSTMENT............................................................................................................................ 51
Welcome
Congratulations on finding and using Outpost Firewall, the most powerful yet userfriendly personal firewall software today! Big claims for sure, but easily verified.
This User Guide is arranged in two parts. The first part is for all users, but the second part
is intended only for those users who are technically advanced.
Getting Started
1 Getting Started
1.1 Starting Outpost Firewall
Once installed, the Outpost Firewall starts automatically when Windows is loaded. Thus,
Outpost Firewall starts protecting your computer immediately before other programs can
compromise your system.
When Outpost Firewall starts, its icon is placed in the system tray, on the right-hand end
of the Windows task bar.
If, for some reason, Outpost Firewall does not start when Windows loads, you can start it
by following these steps:
1.
2.
Select Agnitum.
3.
4.
When Outpost Firewall is running its icon is displayed in the system tray. If you do not
see the Outpost Firewall icon in the system tray, then you know that Outpost Firewall is
not protecting your computer unless you specifically set it up to run in background mode.
For more info please refer to the 3.2 Initial Settings chapter.
Right-click its icon in the system tray to display the shortcut menu. Select Exit and
Shutdown Firewall.
You can also shut down Outpost Firewall when its main window is displayed by
going to the File menu and select Exit and Shutdown.
Both ways close the interface and stop the firewall so Outpost Firewall is no longer
protecting your system.
When Outpost Firewall is shut down its icon disappears from the system tray indicating
that the firewall is no longer protecting your computer.
Getting Started
Description
Outpost Firewall has detected and blocked an attack against your
system. The alert message displays the attack details.
Click Show history to see the full list of all attack reports of this
same type.
Note: This alert is displayed only when the Report detected attacks
option is selected in the Attack Detection plug-in settings dialog
box.
One of the application rules has been processed by Outpost Firewall.
Click Show history to see the full list of events.
Note: The application rule must include the Report it action for
Outpost Firewall to display this alert.
New plug-ins or plug-in updates are available for download from the
Agnitum web site. Click the link to navigate to the page with more
detailed information.
The News section at the Agnitum web site has been updated. Click
the link to see the current security trends, Outpost Firewall updates
and news.
Getting Started
Outpost Log Cleaner is performing the database cleanup. This is
displayed only when the Display alerts option is selected in the Log
Cleaner settings.
Outpost Firewall automatically downloads the latest news and plug-ins announcements from
Agnitum web site and displays them when you click My Internet or Plug-Ins in the left panel
tree in the main window.
Tip: To disable this feature, right-click My Internet or Plug-Ins and clear Enable News
Download and/or Enable Plug-Ins Information Download.
10
An Orientation
2 An Orientation
2.1 The System Tray Icon
The system tray is the right most part of the Windows task bar that generally looks like
this:
The blue circle with the question mark is Outpost Firewalls icon. This icon is one of
the primary ways you can access Outpost Firewalls many controls, settings and logs.
This icon changes with each of Outpost Firewalls major modes so you can see which
mode is being used to protect your system at any time. These modes are covered in 3.3
Selecting a Policy chapter.
When you right-click the Outpost Firewall icon you get its shortcut menu:
Aboutshows the current version of Outpost Firewall and lists each module in
the package and their individual versions.
Exit and Shutdown Outpost Firewall Procloses the GUI and stops the
firewall so Outpost Firewall is no longer protecting your system.
11
An Orientation
2.
This is what the Outpost Firewall main window looks like right after Outpost Firewall is
installed:
Toolbar
Folder bar
Left panel
Information panel
Status bar.
12
An Orientation
Allowedshows the event log stats for all the applications and connections that
Outpost Firewall allowed. You can view the stats filtered for the current session,
current day or all times.
Blockedshows the event log stats for all the applications and connections that
Outpost Firewall blocked. You can view the stats filtered for the current session,
current day or all times.
Reportedis the event log of all the attempts by applications and connections to
access the Internet or LAN that you specified Outpost Firewall to report to you.
Although the details of the logs are intended for advanced users, the above items are
important when you need to see the stats on established connections or bytes sent and
received. To view the logs in more detail, advanced users should press the Show Detailed
Log button located on the information panel of Allowed, Blocked and Reported items
(please refer to 6 The Outpost Log System chapter for more information). You can also use
13
An Orientation
the detailed statistics to make certain that Outpost Firewall is correctly configured and
functioning properly.
The Outpost Firewall setup package that you downloaded from Agnitum web site contains
some additional plug-ins. Plug-ins are independent from the primary Outpost Firewall
engine and you may install or uninstall any or all of them. You can even get third-party
plug-ins from other developers and web sites. The second part of the listing of the left
panel shows the plug-ins that are installed.
Each plug-in has its own icon in the left panel and the log of its activity is displayed in the
information panel. When Outpost Firewall is first installed the Plug-Ins list contains the
following modules:
Adsdisplays the events log of all the ads that were blocked.
Contentdisplays the events log of all the web sites or pages that were blocked
by this plug-in and the reason why.
DNS Cachedisplays the events log of the web addresses cached by Outpost
Firewall to speed up your Internet connection to those sites.
Active Contentdisplays the events log of the sites that had some of its active
content blocked based on the settings for Java applets, VBScript, ActiveX, and
other active content elements.
Attachment Quarantineshows the events log of all the e-mail file attachments
that were neutralized and quarantined from your computer.
As with Windows Explorer, any line that starts with a plus sign (+) can be expanded to
show each of its subcomponents. In the picture above, the Network Activity line can be
expanded by clicking on the plus sign at the start of that line.
Any line starting with a minus sign (-) shows that the line has already been expanded. By
clicking on the minus sign, all of its subcomponents can be hidden so only the type of
component is displayed to conserve screen space.
An Orientation
14
Here is an example of the information panel showing some of the many types of data it
displays:
The line which has a minus sign by its side is expanded to show its individual data. To hide
this extra data, click the categorys minus sign. A line without a plus or minus sign
preceding has no extra data to be shown.
For advanced information about customizing the information panel, see the Columns
section of the Appendix A.
As with most elements of Outpost Firewall, a right-click in the information panel opens a
shortcut menu. In the picture below, the menu is pertinent to the highlighted line. If no line
was highlighted and the right-click was over some of the white space below the lines, then
all the menu items would not be applicable and so would be grayed out.
The menu shown in the above picture is for displaying the data in the information panel in
a way that is most useful to you. This is mainly for professionals like system administrators
who need to rapidly track down some particular data. Although Outpost Firewall is easy
enough for a home computer user, it is also very sophisticated to meet the needs of
advanced users.
15
An Orientation
The choices in the menus shown above are self-explanatory to those users who would need
to use them. Outpost Firewall makes extensive use of shortcut menus for all of its
different items, categories, panels, and icons. A little experimenting will help you discover
all of them and is far more instructive than reading detailed descriptions of each item.
You can see what each button does by holding your cursor over it for a second or so.
The icon in the left end of the toolbar shows Outpost Firewalls current policy. Clicking
on this icon gives a menu you can use to quickly change usage modes. The menu looks like
this:
Only some of these buttons are visible (active) at any one time, depending on what is
highlighted in the left panel or the information panel.
Each button on the toolbar is a shortcut to a menu item except the Update and Help
buttons. The buttons are simply an easy and direct path to their functions rather than having
to go through several different menus or dialog windows to access these same functions.
16
An Orientation
Outpost Firewalls Toolbar Buttons
Button
Function
Options
17
18
It also restricts the flow of information coming into your computer as you see fit. You
might set a rule about file sharing, for example, so that your computer shares your files
only with other computers you trust on your local network. A common use for a firewall is
to restrict the amount of information your computer gives out while it is connected to the
Internet.
The first section is Startup. This lets you choose the startup mode for Outpost Firewall.
The default startup mode is Normal, which loads Outpost Firewall automatically at boot-
19
up and displays its icon in the system tray. Select Background if you want Outpost
Firewall to run in invisible mode, without its system tray icon or any of its dialog
windows. This option is provided for two reasons: to save system resources and for a
parent or systems administrator to block unwanted traffic or content in a way that's
completely hidden from a user. If you do not want Outpost Firewall to run automatically at
startup, select Disabled.
The Miscellaneous area of the dialog is where you can select Minimize to System Tray to
not have a button placed on the task bar for Outpost Firewalls main window whenever it
is minimized. Instead of this, to see Outpost Firewalls main window, simply double-click
Outpost Firewalls system tray icon or right-click it and select Show Outpost Firewall.
If Minimize main window on close is selected, then whenever you click the close button
only Outpost Firewalls main window will be closed, not the firewall. In this case, to
shutdown Outpost Firewall, right-click Outpost Firewalls system tray icon and select
Exit and Shutdown Firewall.
The Password protection section lets you select to have your Outpost Firewall settings
protected by password so only you can change its configuration.
Mode
Description
Stop all
Block most
All network connections are blocked except those you explicitly allowed.
Rules Wizard
The first time each application is run, allows you to determine how an
application will interact with the network.
Allow most
All network connections are allowed except those you explicitly blocked.
Disable
The icon shown for each mode is what is displayed in the system tray as the Outpost
Firewall icon. You can tell at a glance what mode Outpost Firewall is in by looking at its
system tray icon.
20
When Outpost Firewall is installed, the default mode is Rules Wizard mode. This mode
helps you decide whether an application should be allowed a network connection. Rules
Wizard facilitates the specifying of applicable network parameters for each type of
application.
Although during the installation process Outpost Firewall creates the rules for
applications already installed on your system, it might miss a few uncommon programs so
at this point Rules Wizard mode makes your life a little easier. Instead of having to create
a new and often complex rule each time a new application is run, Rules Wizard does the
work for you by basing its presets on all well-known applications. Rules Wizard even
recommends the best selection for you. Unless you know of a better choice, simply okay
Outposts recommendation.
Here is the Rules Wizard dialog window that pops up whenever a new application
requests a network connection:
Outpost Firewall has a database of the most commonly used applications. Our engineers
programmed the optimum settings for each type of application so the decisions you have to
make are very few.
The Outpost Firewall system groups applications into three groups.
In the picture of the dialog window above, you can see what application is requesting an
outgoing connection, Internet Explorer, what manner of access is being attempted, the
basic parameters of the connection and the choices you can make regarding the request.
21
Purpose
Result
Allow once
Block once
Outpost Firewall will detect most of the applications that regularly access the network
after working a day or so in Rules Wizard mode. Once Outpost Firewall has registered
most of your applications, you can switch to Block most mode.
You can also create your own rule for an application rather than select one of the presets.
To create a rule, click the down arrow at the right side of the Create rules using preset
pull down. Select Other from the drop-down list and click OK. This brings up the Rules
dialog where you can create any rule for this application.
Note: In the case when some application requests the connection to the server that has
several IP addresses, Outpost Firewall automatically detects all server addresses and
configures corresponding rules for all server IP addresses according to the action you
specify.
Rules Wizard is not supported when Outpost Firewall is run in background mode as that
mode is designed to run without user interaction.
22
If you select Rules Wizard and then try to run in background mode, you will need to
choose another policy for Outpost Firewall to use instead of Rules Wizard. Click on the
Policy tab in the Options dialog box, then click on the underlined policy name and select
the policy in the Background Mode Settings selection dialog:
23
You can either choose to block all network traffic upon activation of your Windows screen
saver, or you can specify the inactivity interval, after which network access is blocked.
Blockedall activity of this group is blocked. We recommend that you add to this
group all applications that do not need Internet access, such as text editors,
calculators, etc.
24
You can also directly add an application by dragging its icon from Windows Explorer or
your desktop into the Options > Application dialog or by clicking on the Add button, then
browsing to the location of the applications .exe file and clicking on the Open button. If
the same application is already listed in another category, it will be deleted from that other
category.
The Edit button lets you change any of the detailed settings for whatever application is
highlighted.
Whenever an application is dragged to the Partially allowed applications category of the
Options Application tab, or is in any other way added to this category, the following
dialog box with its list of rules is displayed:
Using this dialog, advanced users have full control of each of the different protocol settings
by highlighting any one of these and pressing the Modify button. This is covered in detail
in 5.4 Creating Rules for Applications.
A simpler approach is to use the Preset button to select the general type of application that
best applies. The settings for these presets were designed by our engineers and are optimal
for most purposes. Even advanced users are recommended to use these presets and then
later tweak their settings as needed. In using the Rules dialog, an empty check box in the
list of rules means that rule will not be applied.
Note: It is possible to create several different rules for the same application. Be aware that
Outpost Firewall uses the first instance of a rule that has criteria matching the
applications activity and ignores all subsequent ones. The firewall rules are processed in
the order in which they are listed. Once a rule is matched, searching of the rules list stops.
Any other rules that match this type of communication are ignored, if they are further on
the list than the first rule that matches. The buttons Move Up and Move Down are used to
change the sequence of rules so you can determine which rule Outpost will use. If no rule
is found, Outpost Firewall displays the Rules Wizard dialog or simply blocks the
25
connection, depending on whether you are running Outpost in Rules Wizard or Block
Most mode.
Clicking the Preset button in the above dialog gives you choices that look like this:
The choices on the Preset list will very likely be added to as time goes on or otherwise
modified. This will be included in any updates of the Outpost Firewall software as was
covered earlier. For advanced information about rule creation, see 5.4 Creating Rules for
Applications.
26
Select the desired component control level from the following options:
NormalOutpost Firewall will monitor all new components as they are being
registered to be a part of an application yet are not located in the application folder.
This option is suitable for most cases and provides a balance between security and
performance.
There are a number of components in each system that are always used by more than one
application. Two examples are: Windows system libraries and common language runtime.
Such components are typically trusted because it is known that they dont impose a threat;
moreover, they are often used by many applications, and monitoring all these common
components takes up a lot of system resources and reduces performance.
27
After you install a service pack, or other massive software update that affects a large
number of common components, it is recommended that you rebuild the common
components database so that Outpost Firewall is aware of the changes made to your
system configuration.
Note: After you click Rebuild database, all information about components that are
manually added or modified will be lost.
28
29
30
31
You can allow some applications memory modification by clicking Add and selecting the
applications from the provided list.
32
Plug-Ins
4 Plug-Ins
4.1 Introduction
One of Outpost Firewalls most useful and effective design strategies is the employment
of plug-ins. These modules can be created by third-party developers and easily added to
increase Outpost Firewalls capabilities.
If you are interested in developing Outpost Firewall plug-ins, please visit
http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/developers.html for samples, tutorials and the
developers forum.
Please note that plug-ins are absolutely independent from each other and the main Outpost
Firewall module.
The dialog window to control these plug-ins is accessed from a right-click the system tray
icon and selecting Options and then the Plug-Ins tab. You can also access this dialog from
the main window using the menu Options, then selecting Plug-Ins Setup.
This is the Plug-Ins dialog window:
Addused to add a new plug-in to Outpost Firewall using Windows file open
dialog.
33
Plug-Ins
Stopused to stop a highlighted plug-in from operating, but not to delete the
plug-in from Outpost Firewall.
Settingsused to modify any of the settings for a highlighted plug-in. The types
of settings vary with the different plug-ins.
Note: Only those plug-ins having the status of Started can have their settings modified.
The settings dialog for any started plug-in can also be accessed by clicking on that plug-in
in the main windows left panel and selecting Properties on the shortcut menu. The
settings dialog for each started plug-in can also be accessed using the
toolbar of Outpost Firewalls main window.
button on the
The Plug-In information section, in the lower half of the above dialog, shows the most
important properties of a highlighted plug-in and where, on your system, the plug-ins .ofp
file is located.
34
Plug-Ins
4.2 Ad Blocking
More and more web sites are becoming filled with ads. With a fast connection these are
generally not a problem but often its nice just to surf without the distraction of blinking,
moving ads.
To change the settings of Outpost Firewalls ad blocking, right-click the system tray icon
to get the shortcut menu, then select Options and go to the Plug-Ins tab. Click
Advertisement Blocking to highlight it and then click the Settings button to get the
following dialog:
Outpost Firewall can block the display of banner ads from certain advertisers. As the
picture shows, Outpost Firewall comes with a large list of the most common words in
Internet advertisement URLs located within the HTML tags <IMG SRC= and <A
HREF=. To add another word to the list, simply start typing it in the text field above the
list and click the Add button. Outpost Firewall replaces any banners containing one of
these words with the text: [AD-IMG].
Be sure that Block Ad content containing specific keywords is selected. Click Add to
add the new entry to the list or Modify to change it.
Plug-Ins
35
Outpost Firewall can also block all banner ads having standard sizes. To do this, select the
Image Size tab on the Options dialog. You will get the following display:
Outpost Firewall lets you block all specific sized graphic images that have a link. Be sure
to select Block images of specific size.
Immediately after installation, Outpost Firewall is set to block all images with a link
(images inside an <a tag) of 100 x 100, 125 X 125, 468 x 60, 470 x 60, 234 x 60, 120 x 80,
and 88 x 31 pixels. By default Outpost Firewall replaces the designated banners with the
text [AD] in the web page.
To add to the list of image sizes to be blocked, type in the size of the image to be blocked
and click the Add button.
Please note that Outpost Firewall blocks banner ads according to the settings you specify.
Some legitimate images could be blocked if the setting is too strict, such as adding the
word image to the list of blocked words. In addition, a few ads will not be blocked with
these plug-in default settings.
To allow all graphics to be displayed on the screen, clear Block images of specific size.
Outpost Firewall also allows you to specify whether to replace advertisements with text
message [AD] or with transparent images of the same size as the ad and supports the
Trusted sites list to which you can add Web sites with advertisements you do not want to
be blocked. Click the Miscellaneous tab to alter these settings.
Plug-Ins
36
Note: Some banners cannot be replaced with transparent images and will be replaced with
text messages regardless the option specified.
Modern Internet advertisements not only include graphic banners, they also use various
ActiveX objects to display advertisements. The simplest example is Macromedia Flash
movies, which are broadly used on web sites. Such advertisements consume a lot more
system resources and network bandwidth than traditional banners and are not cut off by
most standard banner removal software tools.
Outpost Firewall can block advertisements that are represented by various web page
ActiveX objects thus saving your system resources and traffic bandwidth. Select the Block
advertising objects to enable this filtering.
This way, Outpost Firewall will block such objects either when it encounters an
<OBJECT> tagused to embed these objects into a web pagethat contains any of the
specified ad keywords, or when the size of the object display area matches one of the
specified ad sizes.
All plug-in settings can be saved to a configuration file so you can reload them if you find
that any modification proved unsatisfactory, or so you can easily transfer your settings to
another computer.
Plug-Ins
37
To manage the plug-in configuration files, click the Export/Import tab in its properties
dialog.
Click Export (to save) or Import (to load) and then specify the configuration file name.
You can also download ad blocking keywords from the Outpost Forum (AGNIS list) using
the provided link.
38
Plug-Ins
Interactive elements treatment can be independently configured for e-mail, news and web
pages. Click either Mai1 and News or Web Pages tab and select the element type to block.
The right part of the window will show you the element description and the setting for each
selection.
39
Plug-Ins
The following settings are available:
Note: The use of all active elements is enabled for all web pages by default.
To configure individual settings for specific web sites, select the Exclusions tab:
Click Add and type the site address (that has active content settings) that you want to
personalize and click OK.
The site that you just added is immediately given all the default active content settings.
Click Properties to change specific settings that will apply to this site only.
Note: If you want to be able to individually configure each of the sites you visit, select the
Add Web sites to the exclusions list on the first visit to have Outpost Firewall display
the Host Rules Assistant window each time a web page is first visited:
Whether you select to Allow or Block all active content from the site the site will be
simply added to the exclusions list. Select Edit Rules for Host to display the Edit
Plug-Ins
40
Properties dialog (see below) in which you can customize the specific sites active content
treatment settings.
The site can inherit the settings from the global policy or you can assign each an individual
value.
Note: Settings that inherit default values are displayed in gray; settings that are assigned
unique values are displayed in blue.
Tip: This dialog can also be invoked by selecting a site on the Exclusions tab and clicking
the Properties button.
Some sites require that all or several of its active content elements be active for their pages
to display or function correctly. If you make the settings for all sites very restrictive, you
can experience the following problems: images not being displayed, a web page not
showing at all, a web page displayed incorrectly or some useful services contained in
applets not working. If this happens with only a few sites, just change this plug-ins
settings for those sites by adding them to the exclusions list as described above; otherwise
you may need to loosen the default active content treatment policy.
41
Plug-Ins
In the section named Alarm level, you move the slider up or down for a higher or lower
alert level:
Highan Attack Detection alert is displayed even if a single scanning of your port is
detected.
Normalan Attack Detection alert is displayed if several ports are scanned or if a
specific port is scanned that Outpost Firewall recognizes as one that is commonly used in
attacks.
Lowan Attack Detection alert warning is displayed if a multiple attack is definitely
detected.
You can adjust suspicious packets threshold for each of the levels by clicking the
appropriate link. This will bring you the dialog window where you can specify the exact
number of suspicious packets that are considered as an attack.
Specify the steps Outpost Firewall is to follow if an attack on your computer is detected:
Show visual alerts when attack is detectedif selected, Outpost Firewall will display
alert message every time an attack is detected.
Plug-Ins
42
Play sound alarm when attack is detectedif selected, Outpost Firewall will play the
specified audio file every time an attack is detected.
Block intruder IP forif selected, blocks all network exchanges from the computer
attacking yours for the number of minutes you set (60 minutes by default).
Also block intruder subnetif selected, blocks all network exchanges from the entire
subnet to which the intruder belongs.
You can also select attacks that Outpost Firewall is to detect and avert. By default Outpost
Firewall handles more than fifteen types of attacks and exploits, but you can choose to not
detect certain attack types in order to eliminate frequent false positive alert messages that
may be appearing if a service in your network, for example, acts like an attack source.
Click the Advanced tab of the plug-in settings dialog and then click Edit list to display the
Attacks dialog box.
Plug-Ins
43
Here you can select the attacks you want Outpost Firewall to detect and avert. Note that
the Advanced button displays a dialog that lets you change the settings that apply to all
attacks in the list.
To change the setting value, highlight the setting in the list and click its value in the right
column.
Note: Alter these settings with care since an improper attack detection configuration can
lead to significant problems with your system network connectivity.
From a security point of view TCP and UDP ports in your system are divided into several
groups according to the probability of an attacker using the port to break in. Attempt to
access ports assigned to vulnerable services like DCOM or RPC with a higher probability
is an inidication that you are being probed then access to a regular port.
However, you may have custom services assigned to custom ports that are also tempting
for an attacker. Outpost Firewall lets you create a list of such ports to which it will pay
more attention while monitoring network traffic. To manage the list of vulnerable ports,
click the Advanced tab in the plug-in settings dialog and then in Vulnerable ports click
Specify.
Plug-Ins
44
Vulnerable ports are divided in two groups: System and Trojan. System ports list contains
ports that are used by vulnerable system services; Trojan ports list contains ports that are
exploited by well known Trojan horses. Click the tab according to the list you want to
change.
Click Add and specify the Protocol, Port number and Weight. Weight is a decimal value
that indicates port importance. A greater number indicates a more vulnerable port. You
may also add comments to describe the ports purpose or anything you wish to note.
There can be computers on your network that you are absolutely sure are not a source of
danger for your system, as well as ports on your system you are sure cannot serve as an
intruders backdoor. In other words, you consider that monitoring these hosts and/or ports
is fruitless and wish to conserve your systems resources and increase its performance by
not monitoring them.
The Outpost Firewall Attack Detection plug-in features exclusion lists to which you can
add hosts and ports you don't want to have monitored. To manage these lists, click Hosts or
Ports under Exclusions in the Advanced tab of the plug-in settings dialog.
45
Plug-Ins
Outpost comes with the most popular file types already configured by our engineers. If you
do not see the file type you want to set rules for, you can create a new rule for that file type
by clicking the New button. This presents a dialog in which you can specify the extension
of the file type. The description of it is automatically supplied by Outpost Firewall.
Plug-Ins
Click OK and the new file type will be added to the list of file types Outpost Firewall is
set to monitor:
Select Rename It and/or Report It as you prefer and click the OK button. In this case,
Outpost will display the alert message about the arrived e-mail with the attachment that
was renamed.
46
47
Plug-Ins
Plug-Ins
48
requests, if you want to stay informed about DNS attacks against your system. To receive
alerts, select the Alert about blocked DNS requests check box.
The list of already cached site names and their IP addresses can be managed in the DNS
records dialog that you can invoke by selecting the Miscellaneous tab and clicking Edit
list under DNS records:
DNS Cache also provides you an Exclusion list to which you can add site names that you
dont want to be cached. This list is especially useful when you frequently access sites that
have IP addresses that change often or you experience other problems when accessing
specific sites from your computer. To manage the list, click the Edit list button under
Exclusion list.
49
Plug-Ins
Select Block content containing specific words, as shown in the picture above, then start
typing into the text field (above the large listing area) each word you want Outpost to look
for to block web pages containing those words. As soon as you start typing, the Add button
is activated. Click the Add button for each word or phrase you want to add to the list. Any
web page containing any of the words on this list will not be displayed.
To list particular web sites you do not want displayed on your computer, select the Blocked
Sites tab:
Select Block sites with specific keywords in address as shown in the picture. Type in the
URL or the part of the URL of the site you do not want displayed on your computer. As
Plug-Ins
50
soon as you start typing, the Add button is activated. Click the Add button after you finish
typing in the URL of each site to be blocked. Then click the OK button to have Outpost
Firewall save the list.
To change the message that will appear instead of any pages with objectionable materials
click Miscellaneous, then click the Edit button:
Outpost Firewall also supports the Trusted sites list to which you can add web sites
which content you do not want to be blocked.
All plug-in settings can easily be saved to a configuration file so that you will further be
able to load your settings back if you alter them in an inappropriate way, or transfer these
settings to another computer.
To manage the plug-in configuration files, click Export/Import tab from its Options
dialog.
51
Plug-Ins
Click Export or Import according to the action you need to take and then specify the
configuration file name.
The panel contains sections with Ads and Active Content plug-ins settings which are
similar to those displayed in the Outpost Firewall interface. To enable/disable the blocking
of ads/active content in your browser, click Enable ads blocking/Enable AC blocking.
Clicking the corresponding links in the panel you can open the plug-in properties and
specify the settings the same way it is described above for each of the plug-ins.
Right-click the Browser Adjustment panel and click Adjust Controlling Parameters to
select which active content elements you want to be displayed in the panel.
Plug-Ins
You can take an advantage of ad Trashcan. This small window makes it easy for you to
remove an ad from a web page you are viewing, by simply dragging the ad over to the
specified area.
Select String portion if you want to trim the URL down. Then click OK to save the ads
URL into Outpost Firewall base.
52
Advanced Settings
53
Advanced Settings
54
5 Advanced Settings
5.1 Introduction
Our engineers configured Outpost Firewalls default settings to give optimum protection
for most computer systems and networks. Outpost Firewall was designed from the start to
be effectively used in its pre-configured state even by computer novices who need not
know about network protocols to have their computer system safeguarded against
malicious applications or web sites.
However, we also wanted Outpost Firewall to be fully configurable to advanced users,
those individuals who understand networking technology.
This chapter is provided so advanced users can effectively tweak Outpost Firewall and
learn about its most powerful features.
Note: A good rule of thumb when using Outpost Firewall is to keep the settings Outpost
Firewall suggests if you do not have a particular reason and the knowledge to change
them.
Advanced Settings
55
A configuration file can be protected by password. To do this, use the Options menu and
select General then click Enable in the Password protection area of the dialog.
To change to a new configuration, use the File menu, select Load Configuration and
choose the configuration file you want or simply select the configuration name on the File
menu between Save Configuration As and Exit.
When exiting Outpost Firewall, the configuration file that is currently in use is saved so it
will be automatically loaded the next time Outpost Firewall is started.
Select Enable under Set password to protect your settings. This brings up a small
window in which you can enter the password you want. When you have entered in your
password, click the OK button, then click the Set Password button in the above dialog
window.
Advanced Settings
56
By default, your password protects only your configuration settings from being altered, but
you can additionally select to protect the Log Viewer and Outpost Firewall service if you
need to keep the system network history from being viewed by unauthorized persons or
want to prevent them from unloading Outpost Firewall and disabling its protection and the
restrictions you set. This is most useful for parents who want to control their children and
employers who need to restrict the activities of their employees.
Note: Remember your password!
Use of this dialog is recommended only for people who know about networking protocols.
Advanced Settings
57
First, describe the event to which the rule applies. You can select from the following
criteria for your rule in the Select Event this rule will handle box:
Where the specified protocol is
Where the specified direction is
Where the specified remote host is
Where the specified remote port is
Where the specified local port is
Where the specified time interval is
Where local port is equal to remote port
Selecting a check box adds its message to the Rules Description field. If a rule is listed as
undefined, you should click it and select one of its options.
After describing the event, select an action for your rule in the Select Actions with which
the rule will respond box. It can be:
Block itBlocks the communication. The source is not notified so it appears that
the packet never arrived at the destination.
Run applicationRuns the specified application with any specified command line
parameters when a rule is triggered.
The final step is to assign a name to the rule. We recommend that you give a recognizable
name to the rule, so it will be easy for you or others to understand it in the future. In
addition, the name you give your rule appears in the Allowed or Blocked log as the
Reason for allowing or blocking this communication. Outpost Firewall suggests the name
for the rule based on the specified settings.
It is prudent to save the present configuration before making changes to it.
Note: When an application tries to go online Outpost Firewall checks if there are any
rules for that application in the Application Rules list and, if so, Outpost uses those rules
and ignores the Global Application and System Rules. Otherwise, Outpost Firewall
checks for rules matching the activity of the application in the Global Application and
System Rules list and uses any that might apply.
Advanced Settings
58
Note: These settings are for advanced users only. If any are incorrectly changed for your
system or network, it could result in your firewall not working as expected.
The following options are available:
LAN Settingslets you change the settings for your local area network, your NetBIOS
choices, and lets you add or remove trusted IP ranges. NetBIOS is what Windows uses as
the protocol for transferring shared files between computers and/or printers on a network.
NetBIOS is useful on a LAN with trusted computers but it can leave your computer open
to attack if it is allowed for general Internet connections. To learn more about
configuring your LAN settings, refer to 5.6 Settings for a Home or Office Network.
ICMPlets you specify the types and directions of the ICMP messages allowed. The
different types of ICMP messages are listed in Appendix B: Types of ICMP Messages. It is
recommended that you do not change the ICMP settings unless you are certain that you are
making the right changes. The Default button on the ICMP settings dialog resets all the
ICMP settings to what they were when Outpost Firewall was first installed.
Firewall modeto switch stealth mode on or off. Normally, when your computer
receives a connection request from another computer it lets the other computer know that
this port is closed. In stealth mode, your computer will not respond, making it seem like it
is not turned on or not connected to the Internet. It is recommended that you keep Outpost
Firewall in stealth mode unless you have a reason not to.
Global Application and System Ruleslets you specify global rules for all applications.
The following rules are available by default:
Advanced Settings
59
Click Rules to edit the existing rules or to create new ones. The way the rules are created is
similar to how application based rules are created. For details, see 5.4 Creating Rules for
Applications.
The only differences are as follows.
You can specify the packet type for outbound connections (i.e. when Where the specified
direction is is Outbound:
Transit packets that are passed along the system network interface or are forwarded
to other interfaces (packets that are received and then sent further)
Besides, you can mark the rule as a High Priority if you want this rule to prevail over the
application rules which take precedence by default.
Some applications can also access the network through direct low-level socket calls, also
known as rawsockets. These calls cannot be governed by ordinary protocols or application
rules and thus can serve as backdoors for rogue applications or processes to access the
network without any limits or regulations. To improve your system protection, Outpost
Firewall lets you control rawsocket access. You can define which applications are allowed
to make rawsocket calls and which are not. Click Rawsockets to bring up the following
dialog:
Advanced Settings
60
Click Add and select the application that you want to grant rawsocket access. If you want
to receive visual alert every time an application, not on the allowed list, attempts to access
rawsockets, select the appropriate option from the above dialog box.
Advanced Settings
61
In the LAN Settings section, click the Settings button to display the LAN Settings
window:
Normally when you open this window you will see your network address, but if you
selected the Configuration Wizard during the Outpost Firewall installation process and
removed all detected networks, then this window will most likely be blank. To detect your
network automatically, click the Detect button.
It is also recommended that you keep Auto-detect new network settings selected for
Outpost Firewall to automatically detect any new networks so you will not have to add
them manually.
If you wish to allow all connections for a particular network, select the corresponding
check box in the Trusted column. Otherwise, if you want to remove the network address
from the Trusted Zone, clear the check box.
If you want to allow all NetBIOS communicationsto and from a network addressmake
sure the corresponding box in the NetBIOS column is selected. To disallow all
communications with the network, just clear the NetBIOS and Trusted check boxes.
You can also add a custom remote network address to Trusted Zone. Click the Add button
to display the following dialog window:
Advanced Settings
62
Specify the domain name, IP address, or IP range. An example is given below the selection
area for each type of address designation. An active Internet connection is required for
Domain name (Internet connection needed) because the IP address needs to be looked
up directly over the Internet. The IP address is saved along with the domain name you enter
and this is the IP address that is mostly used by Outpost Firewall.
Click the Add button to add a new entry to Outpost Firewalls Trusted Zone listing.
An entry on the trusted list can be modified at any time by highlighting it, amending it, and
clicking the Modify button.
To remove an entry, highlight it on the list and click the Remove button.
Please note that plug-ins are independent from the Trusted Zone settings. For example,
even if we add www.agnitum.com to the trusted network addresses, Outpost Firewall
plug-ins will block banners, active content and other things from this site regardless.
In addition, it is very important to remember that Trusted Zone rules are given the highest
priority possible. Even restricted applications can communicate with Trusted Zone hosts.
We advise you to put ONLY your absolutely trusted computers into this zone. If you only
need file and printer sharing, it is best to use NetBIOS rather than Trusted.
63
The start of every program and all changes made to policies, configuration settings
and passwords.
One mouse click to view the entire log or a selection of specific events. See the
6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details.
Customized display of the logs. You can view only the information you need by
selecting columns and limiting their parameters and sorting by any parameter.
Preset selections of events can be displayed. You can easily switch between
connections blocked during the last ten minutes, for instance, or all connections
allowed today. You can also create, edit and remove selections of events to be
displayed. See the 6.4 Working with Logs and Filters chapter for details.
Logs can be copied and/or exported according to presets, filters or selected records.
Logs can even be browsed via the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.
Logging can be disabled by clearing the Tools > Enable Logging check box from
the Outpost main window.
64
The console tree and information panel are similar to the left and right panels of Windows
Explorer. The console tree is a listing of the filters and the information panel gives detailed
data about whatever filter is highlighted in the console tree.
As with Windows Explorer, any line that starts with a plus sign (+) can be expanded to
show each of its subcategories. Any line starting with a minus sign (-) shows that the line
has already been expanded. By clicking on the minus sign, all of its subcomponents can be
hidden so only the name of the component is displayed to conserve screen space.
To expand or collapse all the items of a log or plug-in:
Alerts Tracker
A listing of all the displayed notifications.
Allowed Connections
A listing of every application and connection that Outpost Firewall allowed.
Blocked Connections
A listing of every application and connection that Outpost Firewall blocked.
Component Control
Displays all the Component Control activity events.
Plug-Ins
Each plug-in has its own log:
o Active Content displays the sites that had some of its active content
blocked based on the settings for Java applets, JavaScript, VBScript,
ActiveX objects and other active content elements.
o Ads displays a list of all the ads that were blocked.
o Attachments Filter shows all the e-mail file attachments that were
neutralized and quarantined from your computer.
o Attack Detection shows every suspicious activity and attack on your
computer from the Internet, the ports involved and where the attacks
originated.
o Content lists all the web sites or pages that were blocked due to their
content.
o DNS Cache displays the web addresses saved by Outpost Firewall to
speed up your Internet connection to those sites.
System Log
This is a record of every program start and every change made to the firewall
policies, program options and configuration settings.
65
66
The information is arranged in a table. The columns of this table represent the various log
parameters, such as Application, Start Time, Protocol. Each log has its own set of
parameters. See the 6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details.
The Outpost Log Viewer toolbar is near the top of the main window and looks like this
when Outpost Firewall is first installed:
When working with Outpost Log Viewer, you can see a tooltip explaining what each
button does by holding your cursor over it for a second or so. Here is what each button
does:
Button
Function
Goes back to the previous viewed item.
Goes forward to the next viewed item.
Goes up one level.
Shows or hides the console tree.
Exports the selected log.
Enables log auto refresh.
Displays context help.
The description bar is right above the information panel in the Outpost Log Viewer
window and looks like this:
The number of the record being viewed and the total number of records in that log.
67
Select the elements you want to display and clear those you want to hide.
To show or hide the console tree, you can also use the
toolbar.
68
To select the columns you want displayed for the selected log, right-click anywhere in the
information panel and select Columns from the shortcut menu. Alternatively, you could
select Add/Remove Columns on the View menu.
You will see the Columns dialog that looks like this:
69
information on the application in the Application column and select Include Selection.
Then right-click the Start Time column on the required date and time and select Include
Selection again. The information panel will now display all the records of the selected date
regarding the selected application.
This operation can be done so quickly that there is no reason to save the configuration. To
create a permanent selection of records under complex conditions, create a filter.
Notes: Include Selection and Exclude Selection commands are not available for some
logs.
While in the Rules Wizard mode, some particular records can be displayed in Outpost
Firewall Log Viewer. If Outpost Firewall Log Viewer is open and some application
requests the network access which is not described by any of the existing rules, the prompt
is displayed and the application is blocked until the user takes the decision. Such an
application will be displayed in the Blocked Connections log. If the user allows the
network access, the records in this log are displayed as shown in the following picture:
Creation of filters.
Clearing logs.
A filter is a way of selecting out specific logged events; it filters out only the data you want
from all the data contained in a log. A filter is named to show the data it presents and it
appears as a separate item in the console tree. The conditions (rules) of filtering are
specified by the user. The rules are based on each column (type of data) that is in a log.
Filtering out only the data that you are interested in is a powerful and flexible feature. With
filters, you can narrow your search to only the data within a specific time span and/or only
the data about a particular application, port, etc.
70
To create a filter, click the Add Filter button in the information panel. This command is
also available in Outpost Log Viewers menu under Actions > Add Filter and in the
shortcut menus of each log in the console tree. You will see the Filter dialog with a listing
of the columns in that log:
To specify a filtering rule, select each column of data you want to see. In the description
field, the beginning of the rule appears, such as: Where the Start Time is Undefined.
To continue the rule, click Undefined. You will see a dialog in which you can specify
various limitations for the selected column:
Use this dialog window to meet your needs and click OK. The rule will be completed
according to the choice you have made. For example: Where the Start Time is last 5
minutes.
You can specify as many rules as you like, then enter the filter name and click OK. The
new filter will appear in the console tree.
You can also edit an existing filter by clicking the Edit Filter button in the information
panel and editing all the settings of the filter as described above.
71
It is also possible to remove an unnecessary filter by highlighting it in the console tree and
pressing the Remove Filter button. The filter will be removed from the console tree.
You can quickly view a filter from within the Outpost Firewalls main window (see the
6.3 How to Display Logs chapter for details) or add it to Favorites (see the 6.5 Working
with Favorites chapter for details).
To save specific logged data to a text or comma separated value file or copy it to the
clipboard to paste it to other applications:
1. In the Log Viewers console tree, select the log of interest.
2. Select the records you want to copy or export.
To select a group of records, click the first one and then press the Shift key
while clicking on the last one.
To select separate records, click each while holding down the Ctrl key.
Use Include Selection or Exclude Selection in a records shortcut menu
(right-click a record to get the menu) to make an advanced selection by using
one or several columns.
3. Right-click a selection and select Export or Copy from the shortcut menu.
4. Specify the folder to which the data will be exported and the file type and name. If
you are copying records then remember to paste them into another file.
5. Click OK.
Logs are stored in a database that is compressed automatically to conserve space on your
hard disk, so there is usually no need to clear these logs. However, you may want to clear
them from your hard drive. In the console tree, select the log of interest and right-click in
the information panel to display the shortcut menu. Select Clear Log to see the following
dialog:
Select either Delete all records or specify the date of the last record to be deleted.
72
If desired, rename the item in the Name edit field and select a folder to place it in or create
a new one by clicking on the New Folder button. Click OK. The item appears on the
Favorites tab in the specified folder.
To display the items you saved in Favorites, just click Favorites in the console tree and
select the required item.
To delete items from Favorites, in the console tree, click the Favorites tab. Right-click the
required item and select Remove.
To rearrange the order of items in Favorites, select Favorites from the Log Viewers menu
and select Organize Favorites to get this dialog:
73
To create a new folder, click the Create Folder button. To rename or delete an item, select
the item and click Rename or Delete. Clicking on Move to Folder displays the Select
Favorites Folder dialog:
Highlight the folder you want the item to be moved to and click OK.
74
The following dialog box lets you clear check boxes next to these bars:
In the Left panel section are the categories that can be displayed or hidden in the left
panels listing by selecting or clearing them in this dialog. These are:
Allowedshows the events log for all applications with a protocol that is
supported and allowed for network operation.
Blockedshows the events log for all applications with network connection
attempts that were blocked.
Reportedshows the events log for all applications for which a report on their
network operations must be made according to Outpost Firewalls settings.
75
Filter by time
This filters out the data displayed that you are not interested in. Filter by time limits the
event log display to the Allowed, Blocked and Reported items of the left panel.
Filter by time is only available on the View menu when one of the left panel items
Allowed, Blocked or Reported is highlighted as shown here:
An alternate way to access the Filter by time dialog window is from Outpost Firewalls
that is accessible only when one of the left panels
toolbar. The Filter by time button
Allowed, Blocked or Reported items is highlighted.
Filter by time lets you choose from three options:
Current sessionshows the event log for the current session of Outpost Firewall.
Allshows the entire event log from the time you started using Outpost.
To find out how to filter Outpost Log Viewer logs, refer to 6 Outpost Log System chapter.
Columns
With the View menus Columns option, you can configure Outpost Firewall to show you
only those data you are interested in. This is also available from the information panel
elements shortcut menu.
After clicking on the Columns option from the View menu the following dialog is
displayed:
76
77
The Column Headers and Listed Fields in this dialog correspond to those in the
information panel as shown here:
You can customize the listings by removing an item from the list using the Remove or
button or adding a previously removed item back to the list using the Add button.
You can re-arrange the sequence of the items for each listing also. To move an item in
either the Listed Fields or Column Headers list, use the up arrow button to move the
item one line up or the down arrow button to move the item one line down. These
buttons are located under the listing they affect.
The Advanced command on the View menu also allows you to customize the display of
information in columns:
The Resolve section gives you the choice of displaying network addresses as DNS address
(for example, www.agnitum.com)
78
If cachedconvert these to their DNS addresses if the information for the address
conversion is stored in the DNS Cache module.
The Display port as section lets you display the local port (on your computer) and remote
port values as:
The Display traffic as section lets you specify the base measure of the amount of
transferred information in the Sent and Received fields as:
Group By
Group By is a very useful option on the Outpost Firewalls View menu. Using it, you can
get the information you need very quickly. Normally, the information is grouped by
application, which is generally the most useful grouping of information. For example, you
can select Group By Application, then click the application you are investigating in the
left panel and Outpost Firewall lists all the connections of this particular application and
nothing more. Another example is, if you run a web or FTP server, select Group By Local
Port, then click the port name in the left panel (www, for example) and the information
panel shows you how your computer is exactly connected to your server.
If you are looking for applications sending data to a particular computer on the Internet,
you can do this almost immediately if you use the Group By selection of the View menu.
Group By can be used on the following left panel items:
Network Activity
Open Ports
Group By changes the type of the following objects display:
Process
Protocol
Local Host (your computer)
79
Highlight one of the left panel items listed above, click the View menu and select
Group By:
You can also get this same display by highlighting the left panel category, Network
Activity in our picture, and then clicking the Group By button
shown here:
80
Description
0
3
4
5
8
10
11
12
13
14
16
17
18
Echo Reply
Destination Unreachable
Source Quench
Redirect
Echo Request
Router Solicitation
Time Exceeded For Datagram
Parameter Problem On Datagram
Timestamp Request
Timestamp Reply
Information Reply
Address Mask Request
Address Mask Reply
81
The Information Request and Information Reply ICMP messages are obsolete. They
were used earlier by network nodes to determine their inter-network addresses, but are now
considered outdated and should not be used.
The Address Mask Request and Address Mask Reply ICMP messages are used to find
out the mask of a subnet (i.e. what address bits define a network address). A local node
sends an Address Mask Request to a gateway and receives an Address Mask Reply in
answer.
82