Open Door Releases Mac OS X Version Of Firewall Advisor/Analyzing Software

Open Door Networks has announced a Mac OS X version of Whois There? Firewall Advisor. This tool is designed to help users analyze and understand the access attempts that may be coming through to their Macs. The software works Open Dooris own DoorStop as well as Symantecis Norton Personal Firewall. According to Open Door:

Open Door Networks Inc. today announced that it was shipping a Mac OS X specific version of its Whois There? Firewall Advisor. Whois There? Firewall Advisor, available since January for Mac OS 8 and 9, provides an important aspect of Internet security by helping users analyze, investigate and respond to access attempts to their Macintosh. Whois There? Firewall Advisor for Mac OS X is an OS X native version of the application that provides analysis and advice specific to the Mac OS X environment.

With the ever-growing number of computers connected to the Internet through "always on" connections, there has been a significant increase in the number of hackers attempting to infiltrate those computers. Personal firewalls have been developed to thwart those attempts. As the number of attempts has risen, however, users have become increasingly confused as to the degree to which they should be concerned and what they can do in response. Whois There? Firewall Advisor works with the useris firewall to answer those questions.

Whois There? Firewall Advisor for Mac OS X works with Symantecis recently released Norton Personal Firewall for Mac OS X, which is based on technology licensed from Open Door. Features of Whois There? Firewall Advisor for Mac OS X include:

  • Advanced Access History window displaying all logged access attempts and including security risk level and host name of the accessor.
  • Windows summarizing access attempts by service type and accessor IP address.
  • Built-in information about the most common attacks and their applicability specifically to the Mac OS X environment.
  • Automated "Whois" lookup to determine details of the accessoris network, including administrator name, address, phone number and e-mail. Administratoris address plotted on a world map.
  • Automated drafting of an e-mail that can be used to notify the administrator of the access attempt and provide the administrator with details that may be useful in tracking the attempt.

Features new to the OS X version include a column indicating whether an e-mail has been sent in response to a particular access attempt, and support for new top-level domain names like .biz and .info.

The company offers an evaluation version of the software. Registered users of the Classic Mac OS version of Whois There? Firewall Advisor can upgrade to the Mac OS X version for US$29. The full version is priced at US$49. You can find more information on the product at Open Dooris Web site.