Subject: Steve Gibson's December/2000 News from GRC.COM ...

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           Significant Security Vulnerability Revealed
           in Almost ALL PC Personal Software Firewalls

            NEW Firewall "LeakTest" freeware from me!
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I have not written to you for five months because I haven't had
any really BIG news (until now) and I never want my eMail to be
irrelevant or annoying to you.  I am committed to NEVER abusing
your trust.

Today's BIG news is the release of my latest freeware: 'LeakTest'

LeakTest is used to check your firewall's vulnerability to an
extremely common and easily exploited design flaw revealed by
this test.  At this time, EVERY FIREWALL BUT ONE is vulnerable to
this danger, and some are more vulnerable than others.

(Due to the strength of its design, the FREE ZoneAlarm firewall,
produced by ZoneLabs, Inc., can not be penetrated by this test.)

     <a href= "http://zonelabs.com/" >ZoneLabs, Inc.</a>

Our new LeakTest page, accessible through the link below and also
from our site's home page, provides the whole story and the means
to download my new and compact (27k byte) LeakTest freeware:

     <a href= "http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm" >LeakTest Page</a>

The LeakTest page also contains links to our very active public
newsgroup forum (grc.leaktest) at grc.com.  This group is
discussing the LeakTest issue and comparing firewall behavior.
You can quickly find any help or further clarifications you may
need within this group.


Other News:

  1. NANOPROBE:

     I have been working on an incredibly exciting new Internet
     security testing technology, known as NanoProbe. It is not
     yet completed, but you will certainly be among the first to
     know when it is. The following page contains background:

     <a href= "http://grc.com/np/np.htm" >NanoProbe Page</a>

  2. FILE DOWNLOADER SPYING:

     The last note I sent to you revealed the privacy breaches
     inherent in many popular file download accelerators. Thanks
     to YOUR SUPPORT on this issue, every vendor of those
     programs immediately updated their software to remove this
     spying behavior. THANK YOU for working with me to let them
     know that this behavior was NOT ALL RIGHT with you!

  3. OPTOUT and AD-AWARE:

     I decided that my long-term plans for OptOut were wrong:
     Rather than scanning the user's system for Spyware, I should
     check the user's system for its firewall's VULNERABILITY to
     known AND unknown spyware. This is the initiative I am now
     launching with LeakTest.

     But there is STILL a very pressing need for a high-quality
     spyware scanner.  I can recommend -- without reservation --
     the EXCELLENT, comprehensive, and completely FREE Spyware
     scanning and removal tool by LavaSoft: 'Ad-Aware'

     <a href= "http://www.lavasoft.de/aaw/index.html" >Ad-Aware</a>

  4. FUTURE MAIL FROM ME:

     Many of our subscribers have worried about not hearing from
     me every month (fearing that they were missing my notes).
     Others have said that they want to know what's going on
     (like with my NanoProbe development) even if it's not "BIG
     news". With my next mailing, I will create a means for you
     to tell me and "Opt-In" if you want monthly news no matter
     whether it's BIG or small. Until then I am not going to
     bother you until I have something I KNOW you will want to
     know.

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Thank you for your time. I hope this has been useful to you.

Steve Gibson.         <a href= "http://grc.com/" >GRC Website</a>