How are games bypassing my firewall?

I don't get it. I've installed many other programs (ie Norton
Antivirus, eMule, etc) where Windows Firewall had to specifically ask
me if I wanted to unblock internet connection in those instances.
AFAIK, the connection was also be initiated by Norton Antivirus for
outgoing traffic. Why would windows firewall regulate internet access
for that, and at the same time permit Star Wars Empire at War unlimited
internet access?
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

In article <1147010937.047405.16200.DeleteThis@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
mexican_equivalent.DeleteThis@yahoo.com says...
> Subject: How are games bypassing my firewall?
> From: <mexican_equivalent.DeleteThis@yahoo.com>
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
>
> I have Windows XP SP2 on my system. I have firewall activated. On the
> firewall menu, there is a list of exceptions. None of my games are
> listed there.
>
> Yet some games, like Star Wars Empire at War, are able to bypass the
> firewall and contact the developer website. I know this because the
> game is aware whenever an update is available for download.
>
> How are these games bypassing the firewall?
>

I do not think the games are "bypassing" the firewall. Last time I looked the
Windows XP firewall was only controlling incoming connections, but totally
ignored outgoing connections. Admittedly, I haven't done much work in this
field for the last 9 months or so, but I am pretty sure I'd've heard if there
had been any change to that.

cheers, -Peter

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

mexican_equivalent RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> I have Windows XP SP2 on my system. I have firewall activated. On the
> firewall menu, there is a list of exceptions. None of my games are
> listed there.
>
> Yet some games, like Star Wars Empire at War, are able to bypass the
> firewall and contact the developer website. I know this because the
> game is aware whenever an update is available for download.
>
> How are these games bypassing the firewall?
>
> And at the risk of sounding paranoid, how do I deny these programs
> internet access?
>

Try ZoneAlarm. It doesn't let anything out without permission including
the examples you noted - hell it even stops outgoing DHCP requests
unless you permit it (which is why I added the DHCP and DNS server IP's
if my ISP to my trusted zone). It is free for home use.

That said with some exceptions most firewalls are designed to keep the
bad guys out. If you let 'em in (because you don't know they're a bad
guy) then the firewall assumes it is a good guy and acts accordingly.
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

In article <Xns97BCB89959FD5juergennieveler RemoveThis @nieveler.org>,
juergen.nieveler.nospam RemoveThis @arcor.de says...
>
> Protection against OUTGOING traffic is pointless, as any malware you
> install could simply deactivate the firewall before trying to
> communicate, anyway
>
> Juergen Nieveler

Wrong. You would not believe the number of virii and bits of malware that I
have culled on people's machines by installing a 2way firewall. Very few are
sophisticated enough to disable all detection programs and firewalls.

Funnily enough a really old firewall (Kerio's second) is most successfull
because even those more sophisticated bits of malware don't recognize it

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

"Quaestor" <no-spam RemoveThis @my.place> wrote in message
news:125tunk8t7i6n9e@news.supernews.com...
> mexican_equivalent RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>
>>I have firewall activated.
>>
> If you mean the so-called XP firewall, no, you don't. That is not even a
> fig-leaf. It just does not work.

Well, it does do what it says it does, which is to block unsolicited
incoming connections. I'd agree that a modern firewall really needs to check
outgoing connections as well, but that's a different matter. A bit unfair as
well - on the one hand we have people complaining that MS is taking
advantage of its position to put them out of business by incorporating their
product in the OS, and on the other we have you complaining that they're not
doing this.

> billgates does not want you controlling your computer, so his "firewall"
> is conveniently made so those who cooperate with him (he gets them to
> distribute only software that forces you to buy his newest OS) can just
> slip right through it.

Do you have some solid evidence of that? No such conspiracy is required to
explain the original poster's question - his computer sent a request out and
the firewall let the response back in. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

> Get a real firewall,

Yup. I'm very happy with Kerio here
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

On Mon, 8 May 2006 11:21:23 +1200, Peter Huebner <no.one DeleteThis @this.address> wrote:

>In article <Xns97BCB89959FD5juergennieveler DeleteThis @nieveler.org>,
>juergen.nieveler.nospam@arcor.de says...
>>
>> Protection against OUTGOING traffic is pointless, as any malware you
>> install could simply deactivate the firewall before trying to
>> communicate, anyway
>>
>> Juergen Nieveler
>
>Wrong. You would not believe the number of virii and bits of malware that I
>have culled on people's machines by installing a 2way firewall. Very few are
>sophisticated enough to disable all detection programs and firewalls.
>
>Funnily enough a really old firewall (Kerio's second) is most successfull
>because even those more sophisticated bits of malware don't recognize it

I'm still using Atguard.
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

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 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

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 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

"John Doe" <jdoe.RemoveThis@usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns97BDB6E1813CF0123456789@207.115.63.158...

[Drivel about the known deficiencies in windows firewall deleted]

John, if you really feel the need to vent your sexual frustration by jumping
on my posts then good for you. You'd be far better off seeking counselling,
but I understand the age issue might present legal problems...

Anyway, because I have too much time on my hands today, I've located the
sources for your quotes. In each case it should be pretty easy for any idiot
to read the rest of the pages and understand for themselves exactly what the
built in firewall does or doesn't do. I suggest in future finding such an
idiot to help you when reading technical web pages?

Kev
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

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 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

ACME <yo.TakeThisOut@no.email> wrote:
> On Mon, 08 May 2006 14:48:20 -0700, Loren Pechtel
> <lorenpechtel.TakeThisOut@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>>A good firewall by it's very nature must be somewhat annoying.
>
> Nope, a good firewall is a hardware firewall and they are not
> annoying.

Oh yes they bloody well are. Try working in an environment with
a reasonably complex network infrastructure and packet filters
all over the joint. Then come back and tell us all about how
"good" firewalls are never annoying.

Annoying doesn't mean unnecessary, though. There's a balance
to be made between security and convenience.

Matt
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

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 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall? 

ACME wrote:

> Nope, a good firewall is a hardware firewall and they are not
> annoying. You think annoying is good? Then look up a little free prog
> called AntiHook, or try out the firewall I already suggested called
> NetVeda SafetyNet and set it to it's most secure mode. Have fun.
> ZoneAlarm is snakeoil for the masses.

A bit off topic, now, but how does a hardware firewall permit
per-application filtering? Suppose that a piece of malware (or a game
I don't trust) decides to phone home using port 80. The hardware
firewall has no way of knowing that it isn't just me using Firefox.
Unless I specifically block the particular address being contacted, the
game will be able to phone home without any problems whatsoever.

Using a software firewall running on the local machine, I can say that
only particular applications are trusted, regardless of the ports or
type of traffic. This allows me to prevent network access for games
that I don't trust, malware sending my personal information out, and
Internet Explorer.

Of course, a software firewall can be compromised by other software
running on the local machine, so no one solution should be used in
isolation. Anybody who claims any "X" single piece of technology
provides perfect protection is mistaken.
 >> Stay informed about: How are games bypassing my firewall?