NIS/NPF 2003 released

Symantec has now released NIS/NPF 2003 on their web site.

NIS2003 http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/nis_pe/

NPF2003 http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/

Platforms: Windows® XP Home/XP Pro/2000 Pro/Me/98

Upgrade option available to current users.

CrazyM

 

Thanks a lot for the heads up !!!

CrazyM and Joseph, tell us about it......

 

I did take a (very) quick look at the public beta.
IDS as in NIS2002 Pro, Component Control, Program Launch Control, some cosmetic changes.
I believe there may be improved filtering via the transparent proxy in this version and a change to the rules management system.
...just off the top of my head.

CrazyM

 

Hi CrazyM,

Do you think Sven's and Albert's app's like LogViewer, Firewall Log Analyser etc. could still be used?

 

I know Sven is working on the next beta of Log Viewer, but not sure how this release will affect it.

I currently run NIS2002 Pro v4.5 and for the most part Log Viewer functions properly (will not give rules particulars as this information is encrypted).

Albert's NIS Rules and Settings definitely do not work with the Pro version due to the encryption. Encryption is also part of NIS/NPF 2003 v6.0 (no idea why they skipped 5) so I doubt they will work with this version either. This is a big down side to the latest versions for those of us who have been using these utilities for some time

CrazyM

 

Sorry, FanJ,

All I know about it is what I've heard from CrazyM, and what's posted on the Symantec site.

There's a report on the PCFlank Firewalls forum that NIS 2003 (Beta, it was) completely passed the PC Flank Stealth Test, but I believe at one point, CrazyM indicated that was not his experience. So that remains to be determined.

Unless there's some sort of built-in functionality to replace Albert's NIS Settings and NIS Rules Viewer , I doubt I'll be making the upgrade. As Morph000's recent posting here indicates, there are times when having that sort of functionality is quite important.

It was intimated (especially in the context of NIS 4.5) that this sort of rules corruption (if that is indeed what Morph is seeing) was highly unlikely in versions of NIS/NPF with encrypted registry entries (which is what 'breaks' Albert's utilities). Obviously, if the problem still exists, but the tools that are quite valuable in resolving the problem are no longer functional, we have a big problem.

I've seen a passing comment from Sven that they have once again encrypted the event log itself. I'm not sure whether he's managed to get past that yet or not (then, too, he may have meant the rules and simply mistyped).

At this point, about all we can do is hope that Symantec is going to finally see the light and provide the necessary access for Sven and Albert to modify their invaluable add-on utilities accordingly. I'm not optimistic.

 

The public beta, when I looked at it, did obtain full stealth results. The other experience you are refering to was probably the results for the Pro version (which will stealth/block some of the stealth scan) .

CrazyM