ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.0 phones home

[jd957]

A Perfect Spy? It seems that ZoneAlarm Security Suite has been phoning home, even when told not to. Last fall, InfoWorld Senior Contributing Editor James Borck discovered ZA 6.0 was surreptitiously sending encrypted data back to four different servers, despite disabling all of the suite?s communications options. Zone Labs denied the flaw for nearly two months, then eventually chalked it up to a ?bug? in the software -- even though instructions to contact the servers were set out in the program?s XML code. A company spokesmodel says a fix for the flaw will be coming soon and worried users can get around the bug by modifying their Host file settings. However, there?s no truth to the rumor that the NSA used ZoneAlarm to spy on U.S. citizens.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/01/13/...cringley_1.html

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/01/zonelab...t-security.html

[Unholy Moley!]

There are a LOT of other settings that cause connections other than that one "share settings" option. The smart defense advisor, automatic updates, spyware update, antivirus update. Chances are they just missed something.