OPEN DOOR NETWORKS ANNOUNCES THE DOORSTOP X FIREWALL
Provides critical logging, other features missing from Tiger’s built-in
firewall
ASHLAND, OR. — May 2, 2005 — Open Door Networks Inc. today announced that
it was returning to the Macintosh firewall business with a free public beta
of its DoorStop X firewall for Apple’s new Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) operating
system. The product, built from the ground up for Mac OS X, gets Open Door
back into the market it essentially started seven years ago.
DoorStop X, which also runs on Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) leverages Open
Door’s many strengths, including a decade providing easy-to-use Macintosh
products (mainly in the Internet security arena) and five years acting as a
Macintosh-focused Internet provider. It brings to market a firewall that is
approachable, functional and highly secure. Users simply download DoorStop
X and double-click the application to initiate its comprehensive protection
and logging features. By default, all service-level access attempts from
the Internet to the user’s machine are blocked and logged. For users who
wish to selectively but securely allow access to certain services on their
machine, DoorStop X provides user-friendly lists of the most common
services. Other features of DoorStop X include:
* Ability to allow or deny service-by-service access from specific
machines, Internet address ranges, or all of a user’s home network
* Default settings for any service not specifically configured by the user
* Full logging of allowed and/or denied access attempts
* Optional blocking and logging of low-level “UDP” access attempts.
DoorStop X is particularly powerful when combined with Open Door’s most
recent Who’s There? Firewall Advisor product (see “Open Door Networks ships
Who’s There? Firewall Advisor 1.5”). Who’s There? displays DoorStop’s (and
other firewalls’) log in an easy to understand format, analyzing that log
and helping users notice those access attempts that they should be
concerned with. Who’s There? provides significant details on all logged
access attempts, and helps users take action to get attacks stopped.
Open Door Networks started the Macintosh firewall market in 1998 with its
groundbreaking DoorStop 1.0 product, which ran on Mac OS 8.1 through,
eventually, 9.2. Originally intended to protect Macintosh servers, DoorStop
proved even more critical in protecting end-user Macs as they migrated to
now-common broadband Internet connections. DoorStop technology was licensed
by Symantec Corporation and used as the basis for their Norton Personal
Firewall for Macintosh product.
Although Mac OS X has included a basic firewall for some time, even Tiger’s
version of that firewall lacks the features required for many consumer and
office uses. DoorStop X logs all access attempts from the Internet and
provides other advanced features missing from Tiger’s firewall. “Tiger’s
built-in firewall is a good start for basic users who simply want to block
all access to their machine,” said Alan Oppenheimer, president of Open Door
Networks. “But DoorStop X is essential for any user who wants to record
access attempts or selectively allow access to other machines on a home or
work network, or the Internet.”
The free public beta release of DoorStop X, along with additional details
on the product and Macintosh firewalls in general, is available at
http://www.opendoor.com/doorstop/ . The release will expire on July 15,
2005, before which time Open Door expects to have a shipping version of the
product available. Pricing has not yet been determined.
Open Door Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet security
solutions for the Macintosh. Open Door was founded in 1995 by Alan
Oppenheimer, co-creator of the AppleTalk network system and co-author of
the book “Internet Security for Your Macintosh: A Guide for the Rest of
Us.” Open Door’s mission is to provide Macintosh users with Internet
solutions that are as easy-to-use and as powerful as the Macintosh itself.
Open Door Networks is based in Ashland, Oregon.