Avast launches a new firewall in latest product updates

Avast has announced a new firewall will be packaged with its latest free and premium product updates for Windows.

The company says the firewall features strong protection from data leaks, spoofing attacks, and malicious devices scanning for open ports on the user's PC.

"Research conducted for our Digital Citizenship Report showed that since the start of the pandemic, the internet has become even more important for two-thirds of 18-44-year-olds, and for about half of older generations around the world," says Avast chief product officer, Vita Santrucek.

"As our world is becoming more digital, people's privacy can be at risk on many levels, often simply by connecting to a public or local online network. The complexity of threats today can make it difficult for people to keep up and understand how to protect their digital lives best. We have bolstered our core Avast Antivirus product with a free Firewall to make it easier for people to keep their online lives secure."
 
Avast Free Antivirus' threat detection and performance is top-rated by a number of the world's independent test institutions, such as AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, SE Labs, and VB100. It was named "Top Rated-Product 2020" by AV-Comparatives, and achieved the highest score out of all vendors in AV-Comparatives' anti-phishing test, with 96 out of 100 points in July 2021.
 
The Firewall contains the following features for free and premium Windows users: 
 
Free: The Firewall monitors the network's security by observing and filtering incoming and outgoing network traffic, preventing unauthorised access to the user's network or shared files and blocking unsafe incoming traffic from the internet. The Firewall inspects the network, observing the number of devices connected, routers, services available on the network, and operating systems used by connected devices. It also sets its mode as Public or Private accordingly.

When the user engages in more risky activities such as connecting to public networks in cafés or airports, Public mode provides high protection. It blocks all incoming connections initiated by other computers, blocks some ports and services, limits communication with other devices, and makes the computer typically not discoverable on the network. In Private mode, on networks that are trusted by the user, such as the home or the office, the Firewall blocks a minimum amount of traffic, the computer is visible on the network, and all standard services are allowed by default, such as incoming Remote Desktop, file, and printer sharing. The Firewall also features a simple 'set and forget' option for convenience and easy customisation options for advanced users.

Premium: Avast Premium Security's Firewall provides additional advanced security features. Leak Protection prevents computers from leaking potentially sensitive information to the network, such as username, computer name, and email. In addition, the Port Scan Alert will notify the user if other malicious devices scan the PC for open ports, which can be used to discover weak points in a network and exploit vulnerabilities. The Firewall will also alert users to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) spoofing attacks that let cybercriminals infiltrate a local network by masking their computer as a network member to steal information via man-in-the-middle attacks.