Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, has released a new analytical article on using leak tests to evaluate firewall effectiveness by Nikolay Grebennikov, deputy director of the Department of Innovative Technologies. According to Grebennikov, due to the increase in the number of malicious programs, the additional security provided by a firewall is increasingly pertinent since firewalls block undesirable network traffic. He states that even the latest operating systems, such as Windows Vista, cannot block all types of leaks on their own (although, from Windows XP SP2 onwards, Windows has included a firewall. Firewall functionality was significantly expanded in Windows Vista).
According to the results of testing conducted in March 2007 by Guillaume Kaddouch (https://www.firewallleaktester.com/articles/vista_and_leaktests.html), Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit using default settings blocked only 9 leak tests (the leak tests blocked are shown in green in the results table). The new operating system is clearly better protected than previous versions thanks to numerous improvements, including UAC, IE protected mode, Service hardening and Kernel Patch Protection (Vista x64). However, even Windows Vista requires third-party protection programs to provide the necessary level of protection from leaks.
Thanks for the tip, EL1TE!