What on earth has happened to viable HIPS software availability?

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by Smiggy, Mar 10, 2017.

  1. safeguy

    safeguy Registered Member

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    I used to run HIPS but OS and browser developers have upped their game to an extent where keeping both updated already provides 90% of the "intrusion prevention" I need. A few tweaks here and there adds 5% more.

    As for the balance 5% risk, I can live with it. No system is 100% secure anyway. Trying to add things to feel more secure usually ends up taking too much time and effort...not worth the ROI for me.
     
  2. MikeNash

    MikeNash Security Expert

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    Pretty much exactly this Pete. When we sold off OA to Emsisoft we had OA, a CRM, custom development and a Global Financial Crisis. The sad fact of the matter was that something had to give, and so we focused on CRM and got rid of OA. I think Emsisoft were the best choice to take it over, and their pathway of making things simpler is what the market wants.

    In my day (words I never thought I'd say) people learned how computers worked when they bought them - but then again - they had to. Now you an pick up tablets, and smartphones and just use them without even a manual. And that's what the market now wants. I just bought a new TV, signed up with Netflix via the remote and never once opened the manual. Software is much the same - there's a comparatively small set of users "like us" who like and enjoy the techy stuff - or have been burned - but everyone else wanted simple. Even I used to run OA in the standard/simple mode for much of the time except when I was testing or playing with new features.

    We had a concept many years ago, before the sale, which we used to call "Online Armor Zero". We had a mock-up UI for it, and the concept was supposed to be zero popups, with zero UI. People expect the systems to work like appliances, so the days of the deep techy things are sadly gone for those who enjoyed playing with them - because for those who sold them there was certainly a loyal market of avid fans, but just too small to make a sustainable business out of.
     
  3. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    @ MikeNash

    WoW, good to hear from you after All this time. OA was GREAT. Hope everythings good with you
     
  4. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Despite days now long since past Mike, (Hi!) it was a useful and creative work that at the time was IMO rather unique and those of us who were on more familiar ground at least as user's/customers, can't thank you enough for what you put into the program that at least for a short time was seen as something of a small breakthrough.

    Wish all the best for you going forward and if it's any small consolation for you, take heart that those efforts were greatly appreciated and that program is still spoken very highly of even today and praised by a select many who happened to be around in it's introduction and when it came into it' s own no matter how short lived it seems now.

    Regards EASTER
     
  5. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    Nice to hear from (now legendary) Tall Emu!

    The way Win 10 native security seems to be going, I wonder how long it will be till we will be talking like this about all security softs, sadly for us tinkerers. :doubt:
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2017
  6. Lockdown

    Lockdown Registered Member

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    Unfortunately, this is will be the eventual outcome. It is a very capable product in the right hands. As good as it is, its dedicated following is small, and that small group of dedicated users probably aren't going to be enough. Consumer demands and expectations are changing and NextGen without any required user input is all the rage. What remains to be seen is if NextGen can deliver the goods.

    Pen-testers prove time and again that some of the old ways are still highly relevant - reducing attack surface, application whitelisting\software restriction policies. See "Cylance Bypass 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5" by BlackHills.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2017
  7. guest

    guest Guest

    sadly OA is abandoned , it is my favorite HIPS-FW of all time, it had unique feature never saw after. i loved its graphic monitoring.
     
  8. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Mike

    I also hope all is well with you. You should be proud. OA was indeed a classic. Those of us who were there will never forget.

    Pete
     
  9. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Agree !
     
  10. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    @MikeNash
    As Peter said...you realy shoul be proud giving us OA...it's hard not to agree that it was the best balanced firewall-HIPS and for me it's the canon...standard...for such type of apps.
     
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Actually, I'm surprised they are still up and running. I think the key is that they marketed it as an anti-logger, and not as HIPS. I would advice them to add anti-ransomware and basic anti-exploit, this would generate a lot of buzz.

    That's the problem, behavior blockers must be extremely good for it to never show any popup and to generate close to zero false positives, when trying to block malware.
     
  12. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Wow, it's great to hear from you again Mike! I hope life is going well for you!

    I was heartbroken when Online Armor was retired. I used it from pre-version 1 alphas until it's retirement. I use to beta test at the old Tall Emu forum. I think it's the first time I ever chat with you, and the Mod Peter here from Wilders.

    I thought OA was the most user friendly HIPS available. I rarely ever had to answer to OA prompts when configured correctly, and it caught everything. It was almost impossible to bypass. I have never been able to achieve the same level of Security since it was retired. I consider Online Armor the de facto standard for HIPS. I tried all the other HIPS available, and did not like most of them for various reasons. If OA was brought out of retirement then I would immediately go back to using it as long as it was compatible with my OS. Man I miss those good old days!
     
  13. guest

    guest Guest

    same here, it has all i needed, and was very tweakable , since its disappearance , i had hard time to find a replacement , Comodo came closer but didn't satisfied as OAP did.
     
  14. Trooper

    Trooper Registered Member

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    Great to hear from you Mike! Was a fan or OA back in the day. Did a lot of testing with it off and on with I think it was Notok I believe. Thanks for checking in with us all. Cheers
     
  15. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    @MikeNash

    Online Armor was a great piece of software! :thumb:
     
  16. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    Installed Online Armor

    oa.png

    After Mike Nash's recent post, it reminded me that i still have a version lying around on my comp. As Spyshelter & Commodo won't install on my XP/SP2, i decided to reinstall OA. I can't remember why i Uninstalled it ? Possibly when i wiped my HD several years ago & started from scratch again i forgot, or was trying other things ?

    Anyway, it's back on & Staying on ! Running fine & light as a feather, as always.

    I also did a Lot of testing etc for them, back in the day.

    Thanx once more to the OA team for a Great product.

    I expect that some of you could also re/install it too, if you can locate a version.
     
  17. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    It won't run correctly as the back end support it needed has been shut down
     
  18. boredog

    boredog Registered Member

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  19. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    ^ This for me.

    The best I could muster up was a one-off HIPS I took to but nowhere near on the order of OA.

    It is still the STANDARD in my own little honest opinion.
     
  20. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    Hi CR...could you share your v. 3.5.052 Free?...in my archive I found 3.5.014 Free and it can be installed (see screenshot) and your version I found only paid...it can't be installed because of server error while registering licence-key. The same with all newer builds I have - 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 7.0. I wanted stay some time with OA due to sentiments :rolleyes:
    OA screen.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2017
  21. Compu KTed

    Compu KTed Registered Member

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    I had the pleasure of running OA version 7.00.1866. That may of been Emsisoft last version of the
    firewall/hips app.
    My time also goes back to Tall Emu in which I installed the firewall and continued to update the versions.
    It also passed Comodo leak test IIRC with a perfect score. Great program that I miss.
     
  22. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    HIPS is dead basically because anti-executables and software restriction policy can do the same thing more efficiently.
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    And because an handful of people can understand the prompts and and react accordingly, and those don't even really need them except for toying.
     
  24. Lockdown

    Lockdown Registered Member

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    Not really. There is HIPS in COMODO, ESET, Kasperksy, SpyShelter, others - just hidden (except for SpyShelter). There are features in HIPS that neither anti-executables nor SRP provide. That one can do it better than the other is not the issue. The issue is an economic one; supply and demand.

    HIPS is "dead" because typical users cannot use them - and the same goes for anti-executables and SRP products.

    HIPS, anti-executables, and SRP just don't sell well; the consumer market for these products is comparatively tiny. Ask Emsisoft why they got rid of Online Armor and Mamutu.

    Our consumer version is made available to the public, but we do not market it to the home user. So it is available for home users that want it, but as far as going after the consumer market - that was never really done.
     
  25. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    HIPS is not popular because the average user lacks education in computing (they don't know how to respond when prompted), and the average user is not so much concerned with Security. The average user does not care about Security until they are a victim of Identity Theft, lose money, lose important data, or it causes them a major inconvenience (example: they can't use their computer due to infection).
     
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