Fighting Spyware with a Firewall

Identity theft is at a record high, and a significant number of identity theft cases are traced back to spyware. Spyware is a type of malicious software (also called malware) that hackers use to invade unsecured computers and networks. It is typically downloaded inadvertently from the Internet without your knowledge by clicking on a link or some other seemingly innocuous action. A clever spyware software program will run in the background of your computer transparently without giving itself away. All the while, it provides a hacker with the opportunity to spy on your computer usage.

Spyware Removal and Protection

Spyware is used for a variety of nefarious pursuits. Some hackers use it track your e-commerce buys, send you pop-up ads and redirect you to different websites. A more sinister use is to track your keystrokes and obtain your login information to credit card accounts and online banking. They can then access your personal accounts and steal your money or commit credit card fraud. Even more sinister perhaps, some criminals will use your server without your knowledge to store and traffic illegal files like child pornography. An experienced hacker can even hack into your microphone and web cam to watch you and record you without your knowledge.

As you can see, protecting yourself from spyware is of the utmost importance. A firewall is the most effective tool to prevent spyware from accessing your computer. A firewall acts as a barrier between your computer and the outside world of the Internet. Anything that you do not want to have access to your computer is filtered out by the firewall. You can configure your firewall settings to determine exactly what that might be.

Many of the traditional firewalls were based on detecting malware on your computer so that you could delete it. This type of firewall allows a dangerous gap in security between the point at which the spyware is installed and when it is deleted. The more effective way to prevent spyware from causing you harm is to prevent it from ever being installed in the first place. Comodo’s Free Firewall does just that. Comodo works proactively to protect you from malware installations by preventing all software installations that do not meet one of two criteria. If the software is not approved for installation by the user or found on an extensive list of approved software compiled by Comodo, it is disallowed. This prevents the gap allowed by many other firewall programs.

Comodo Advanced Firewall Protection

Comodo Firewall is an advanced firewall program in many ways. It also features an advanced Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) called “Defense +.” This feature prevents unauthorized modifications to your critical system files and protects against root-kits, inter-process memory injections and key-loggers, among other things. The easy-to-use rules interface can be high customized by advanced users for more specific filtering.

Comodo also protects your PC with state-of-the-art antivirus protection. The antivirus and firewall comprise the Comodo Internet Security Suite, installed on millions of computers around the world. The suite is easy for beginners to install and begin using right away. With Comodo Internet Security, you don’t have to worry about your computer, network or privacy being compromised by malicious spyware or any other type of malware.

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