McAfee Rolls Out Updated Desktop Firewall

McAfee Security

The McAfee Desktop Firewall 7.5 combines packet and application filtering with intrusion-detection capabilities that administrators can manage with ePolicy Orchestrator, McAfee's antivirus management console, the company said.

The firewall evolved from the PGPfire desktop firewall, which belonged to Network Associates' PGP Security unit, said Arvind Narain, McAfee Security senior vice president of product planning and Internet services. Network Associates dismantled the PGP Security division last fall.

With the management capability via ePolicy Orchestrator and new intrusion-detection technology, McAfee Desktop Firewall 7.5 helps companies protect their network against the new types of blended security threats, such as last year's infamous Nimda, Narain said.

The desktop firewall protects remote workers using broadband connections from attacks outside the corporate firewall but also protects data from within the corporate firewall, said Jacqueline Bury, product-marketing manager for McAfee Security.

With ePolicy Orchestrator, administrators can push out policies to lock down vulnerabilities in applications or issue a policy change to block an attack, she said.

The McAfee Desktop Firewall 7.5 is available for Microsoft Windows 98 SE, ME, NT 4.9 and 2000 platforms. Availability is slated for Wednesday. For 51 to 100 nodes, the product costs $30 a node for a two-year license and one year of support. With ePolicy Orchestrator, it costs $50 a node.