But I already use a hardware firewall - why do I need additional protection for my computer?

When it comes to fighting hackers, it’s a 24/7 battle. They never rest. Somewhere, some place, some one is getting up to no good. One of the best weapons against these outside attacks on your computer is a hardware firewall. In fact, as prices have come down, popular commercial products have moved from the corporate IT world to your computer room as a critical piece of your anti virus strategy. 

However, most personal/home firewalls are very good at ‘closing doors’ so only known applications can communicate with your system. Unfortunately hackers frequently use these ‘open doors’ to sneak in to your system to cause harm. These attacks can come through your web browser, email or even instant messaging programs, because the firewall has to let that traffic through from the Internet.

Intrusion Detection Systems watch for suspicious behaviors and react quickly to stop an attack.

So while using anti virus software and firewall hardware will certainly win most of these battles with hackers, but can still cost you the war. That’s why you should consider one last piece of additional protection - an Intrusion Detection System (IDS). 

How does IDS work? While a firewall completely stops certain activities from penetrating your system, it can’t keep everything out. Otherwise it would be the same as being disconnected from the internet. So IDS works behind the firewall to review all communications between computers. This is called ‘protocol analysis.’ Protocols are essentially the languages computers use to communicate with each other across the Internet. Think of a file as an individual word. While it may have meaning by itself, it’s often necessary to uncover its full meaning by looking at its use in a sentence or paragraph.

By determining whether the communications are malignant or benign, this protocol analysis gives a product like BlackICE the ability to identify and automatically block attack activity that firewalls can’t stop. Think of it as another electronic sentry with ‘x-ray’ vision. One more vital weapon in the fight against hackers.