Zone Security – Overview

To access:

See the Zone Security pane on the top, left side of the Home page.

What it does:

iolo Personal Firewall divides all computers, networks, and Web sites into two Zones: the Internet Zone and the Trusted Zone.

• The Internet Zone is for all the computers, networks, and sites that are not in the Trusted Zone. This Zone is for communications that are unknown or undesignated.

• The Trusted Zone is for those computers, networks, and sites that are explicitly designated as trusted. This Zone is for communications that are assumed to be predictable and safe.

The pane has a section for each Zone – Internet Zone and Trusted Zone – each allowing its own security.

• You determine the security for each Zone. By either selecting preset security levels or designating your own settings, you manage which ports are open and more.

  To follow are the security controls that can be applied to a Zone. After each description is the tab name of where the settings reside.

   

  For the preset security levels, the following settings are fixed. For the Custom level, you can change these settings.  

  • Control which standard ports are open to incoming or outgoing traffic. (Defined Ports tab)

  • For additional ports that you specify, you can determine which ones are open to incoming or outgoing traffic. (Custom Ports tab)

  • See a list of all the known attacks that are blocked. (Attacks tab)

  • When enabled, control the program access based on its IntelliDefense classification. (IntelliDefense tab)

  • Establish default program permissions. (General tab)

  • Control broadcast/multicast programs. (General tab)

  • Control IGMP packets. (General tab)

  • Control whether the Zone locks when your PC is idle. (General tab)

• You determine the membership for each Zone. You designate which computers and Web sites you trust by adding them to the Trusted Zone. Those members will be controlled by the security you set in the Trusted Zone section. All other locations will be members of the Internet Zone and controlled by the Internet Zone security.

Instructions:

To begin, go to the Zone section that you want to update – Internet Zone or Trusted Zone – and click View Zone options to expand the list of security options. There are two components to setting Zone security (click a link for detailed instructions):

• Designate Security for a Zone. Select a preset security level, designate individual settings to create your own security level, block all incoming/outgoing access for the Zone, or allow all incoming/outgoing access for the Zone.

Note: The default for the Internet Zone is the preset security level Medium; for the Trusted Zone, the default is the preset security level Low.

• Designate Zone Membership. Add the computers, networks, and Web sites that you trust to the Trusted Zone.

Note: Any computer that is not a part of the Trusted Zone is automatically a member of the Internet Zone, so you can simply do nothing for a computer you want to belong to the Internet Zone. However, you are given the option of assigning a computer to the Internet Zone, which could be useful for visibility or if you plan to change the Zone membership later.

Related topics:

Basic Steps for Configuring the Firewall