MUST READ: Yahoo lands Tumblr for $1.1 billion: report

Topic: IBM

IBM kills off BlackICE firewall

Summary: IBM is pulling the plug on BlackICE PC Protection/Server Protection, the highly-rate firewall product that came with last year's acquisition of ISS (Internet Security Systems).

Ryan Naraine

By for Zero Day |

IBM kills off BlackICE firewall

IBM is pulling the plug on BlackICE PC Protection/Server Protection, the highly-rate firewall product that came with last year's acquisition of ISS (Internet Security Systems).

BlackICE PC Protection, formerly known as BlackICE Defender, has reached "end of life" and will be discontinued. Existing customers will get support through next September.

IBM Internet Security Systems will continue to release security updates until September 29, 2008, to protect your system against new exploits and vulnerabilities as they are discovered. There were be no further updates after September 29, 2008.

Sunbelt Software has launched a SaveBlackICE.com Web site to lure existing BlackICE users to its own firewall offering.

Topic: IBM

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

5 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Havent heard the name BlackICE for a while.

    used to be popular on th BBS via
    ( at that time ) 1993 on 14.4 modems.


    Never really wondered what happened to BlackICE,
    i remember it was constantly being updated and hacked.


    If IBM is throwing it a way it must be for a good reason.
    just like the personal computer was.
    not of this world
    Reply Vote

    • 1993? 14.4?

      I think you're mistaken. BlackICE debuted in 1998.

      Not sure why BlackICE would have been distributed on a BBS. It wouldn't have done you much good over a Z-modem connection.

      Wikipedia has a little more information.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion-prevention_system
      melvinlusk
      Reply Vote

      • Z-Modem Connection???

        [b]Not sure why BlackICE would have been distributed on a BBS. It wouldn't have done you much good over a Z-modem connection.[/b]

        Z-Modem (along with X-Modem & Y-Modem) were transfer protocols, not a standard communications protocol. They would have only been in use if and when you were up or downloading a file.

        However, you are correct in so far as since most BBS's didn't use TCP/IP, nor were you connected anywhere beyond the BBS. So having a firewall up would be quite a waste of system resources.
        Wolfie2K3
        Reply Vote

  • RE: IBM kills off BlackICE firewall

    Why because the software was that good that it would catch the lowlife hackers that had gotten into other people computers. The hackers did not like it because it was a great law enforcement tool to go after each person that invaded anothers computer illegally to document then to assist the authoritites with their apprehension.
    CMAMgmnt@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: IBM kills off BlackICE firewall

    And, no one here smells the conspiracy? IBM purchased this product for the sole purpose of destroying it. It was the only true protection we had in the digital age. Lets say a government agency wanted to monitor what you were doing, this software would let you block, identify and trace that attack back to the source. That is why this software was killed. No other firewall has or ever will do this. At least I cant find one that does.
    hannibalektr
    Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close