ZoneAlarm is a personal firewall

Personal firewall

A personal firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy. Typically it works as an application layer firewall....

 software application originally developed by Zone Labs, which was acquired in March 2004 by Check Point

Check Point

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a global provider of IT security solutions. Best known for its firewall and VPN products, Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology...

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It is chiefly notable for the "Global Virus Alert" scareware

Scareware

Scareware comprises several classes of scam software with malicious payloads, or of limited or no benefit, that are sold to consumers via certain unethical marketing practices. The selling approach uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or the perception of a threat, generally directed at...

 popup which ZoneAlarm used to try to get users to switch to their paid security suite. The popup was turned off by the ZoneAlarm marketing team after an uproar from disgruntled users, many of who uninstalled the software.

Features

ZoneAlarm includes an inbound intrusion detection system, as well as the ability to control which programs can create outbound connections. , the newest release is ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2012. ZoneAlarm was formerly known as Zone Labs.

Unauthorized web access

Even when all settings to automatically connect to the company's offices are turned off, ZoneAlarm Security Suite (the paid version of ZoneAlarm) will still send information over the internet. This can be blocked by adding the following to your Windows host file:

# Block access to ZoneLabs Server

127.0.0.1 zonelabs.com

See also

• Comparison of firewalls
  Comparison of firewalls
  The following tables compare different aspects of a number of firewalls, starting from simple home firewalls up to the most sophisticated Enterprise firewalls.-Firewall software:...
  
  
• ZoneAlarm Z100G
  ZoneAlarm Z100G
  ZoneAlarm Secure Wireless Router Z100G is a discontinued Unified Threat Management security router for the home and SOHO market.The Z100G was developed by SofaWare Technologies, a Check Point Company...
  
  
• Check Point
  Check Point
  Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a global provider of IT security solutions. Best known for its firewall and VPN products, Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology...
  
  
• Check Point Abra
  Check Point Abra
  Check Point GO is a USB drive that combines an encrypted USB flash drive with virtualization, VPN and computer security technologies to turn a PC into a secure corporate desktop. By plugging Check Point GO into the USB port of a Microsoft Windows® OS-based PC or laptop, users can launch a secure...