Even if you have a firewall software installed, it can allow some information to be leaked without your confirmation. The LeakOut tool checks if your firewall is configured in such a way as to leak any information easily. LeakOut is a simple tool to demonstrate how it is possible, in certain circumstances, to circumvent the outbound control/filtering systems of personal firewalls. So why not test the configuration of your firewall? Here is how :
The following test was carried out on Windows Vista SP2 with Outpost Firewall free edition installed. The firewall has the Mozilla Firefox configured as a web browser.
- Download the LeakOut test file from LeakOut.zip.
- Extract the contents of the zip file to a folder on your desktop. Then double-click on LeakOut.exe to run it.
- You would see an information window showing which browser is being used for the leakout test. Click OK to continue.
- The LeakOut tool sends the sample data collected (user name, computer name and the windows directory path) to its server and shows it in the web browser.
- This means that the Outpost Firewall free edition failed the leak test! It is time to change the firewall settings. Let’s see what happens if we enable the Network-enabled application launch option in the Anti-Leak Control setting of the Outpost Firewall.
- When we execute LeakOut.exe this time (step 2 and 3 above), Outpost Firewall traps its attempt to send collected data!
- Using the LeakOut test, we were able to configure our firewall software correctly to protect against the outbound leakage. You can also configure your firewall software similarly.
For more information about the leakout test, visit http://mark0.net/soft-leakout-e.html.