ABSecure ModemSwitcher
Frequently Asked Questions

- What is ABSecure ModemSwitcher ?
- What kind of attacks can be blocked by ABSecure ModemSwitcher ?
- What are the software requirements for ABSecure ModemSwitcher ?
- What's new in this release ?
- How can I report a bug ?
- Can I suggest a new feature for the next version of ModemSwitcher ?

ABSecure Modem Switcher is a "virtual airlock" that isolates and protects your LAN while your workstation or other workstations of your LAN are connected to the Internet by modem.

When a user establishes a modem connection, ABSecure ModemSwitcher detects it automatically and isolates the workstation from the local network. When the user terminates the Internet connection, ABSecure ModemSwitcher re-enables automatically the local connections.
All the process is tranparent to the user.

ABSecure Modem Switcher is provided as a service for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. So it cannot be disabled by the local user if this user is not an Administrator of the local machine, providing a good level of security over an enterprise network.

With ABSecure ModemSwitcher, an enterprise administrator can enforce a security policy requiring that no machine on the network is able to be connected both to the LAN and to the Internet at the same time.
Moreover, with ABSecure ModemSwitcher, all the modems that are not allowed throughout the enterprise become ineffective.

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ABSecure ModemSwitcher protects your network from "bouncing" attacks. A bouncing attack consists in hacking a workstation connected to the Internet by dial-up, and from there to gain access to the rest of the internal corporate network.

ABSecure ModemSwitcher protects your LAN from this type of attack, because when a user is connected by dial-up, he does not have access to the LAN anymore, until the modem connection is dropped.
Here is an example below: when no dial-up connection is active, the user has access to the intranet servers:

But after dialing to the Internet, he does not have access to the LAN any more:

The LAN is secured: no attack can be initiated from the outside.

When the modem connection is dropped, ABSecure ModemSwithcher automatically enables the local connections again, and the local intranet servers become available again:

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Hardware:	Pentium class computer.
OS:	Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server (SP4, SP5, SP6, SP6a) Windows 2000 Professional or Server (SP1, SP2) Windows XP Professional
Memory:	Minimum of 16 MB.
Disk Space:	Less than 6 MB.

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ModemSwitcher has been partially re-written: it uses less CPU resources and does no disk access.

Comparing to the previous versions, this version of ABSecure ModemSwitcher is more robust against bouncing connections, and more adaptive to the user environment changes.

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Should you require technical support or report bugs you would like to be fixed for your specific needs, please send your request to:

support@absecure.com

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Yes, of course. We will be pleased to add the features you need in the next versions of ABSecure ModemSwitcher.

Please send your specific needs to:

support@absecure.com

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