Deep Freeze, by Faronics, is an application available for the
Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and SUSE Linux operating systems which
allows system administrators to protect the core operating system and
configuration files on a workstation or server by restoring a computer
back to its original configuration each time the computer restarts.
Operation
Deep Freeze is a kernel-level driver that protects hard drive integrity
by redirecting information being written to the hard drive or partition,
leaving the original data intact. This redirected information is no
longer referenced once the computer is restarted, thus restoring the
system to its original state at the disk sector level. This allows users
to make 'virtual' changes to the system, giving them the appearance
that they can modify core files or even delete them, and even make the
system unusable to themselves, but upon reboot the originally configured
'frozen' state of the operating system is restored.[citation needed]
To make changes, a system administrator must 'thaw' the protected
partition by disabling Deep Freeze, make any needed changes, and then
'freeze' it again by re-enabling Deep Freeze. These changes become part
of the protected partition and will be maintained after restarts.
'Freezing' and 'thawing' can be done at the workstation level or
remotely via either the Faronics Core management platform or the Deep
Freeze Enterprise Console. Users of the Enterprise version can also
create virtual partitions called ThawSpaces (of up to 1 TB on an
NTFS-formatted drive) to retain data on "frozen" hard drives after
restarts.
Deep Freeze can also protect a computer from harmful malware, since it
automatically deletes (or rather, no longer "sees") downloaded files
when the computer is restarted. The advantage of using an application
such as Deep Freeze antivirus / antimalware is that it uses almost no
system resources, and does not slow your computer significantly. The
disadvantage is that it does not provide real-time protection, therefore
an infected computer would have to be restarted in order to remove
malware.
Limitations and security
Deep Freeze only protects workstations in a "fresh-booted" state. That
is, Deep Freeze prevents permanent tampering with protected hard
drives/partitions across reboots, but user activity between restarts is
not limited by the program. For example, Deep Freeze does not prevent
application installation; a user can install a modified version of a Web
browser (but seemingly harmless to the unknowing user) designed to
secretly send users' passwords to a server connected to the Internet. As
a workaround, Deep Freeze can be configured to restart after user
logout, shutdown after a chosen period of inactivity, or
restart/shutdown at a scheduled time in an attempt to ensure that no
such installations are retained (as rebooting the system returns the
system to its original, unmodified state).
Deep Freeze cannot protect the operating system and hard drive upon which it is installed if the computer is booted from another medium (such as an external hard drive, a USB device, optical media, or network server). In such cases, a user would have real access to the contents of the (supposedly) frozen system. On a Windows-based computer, this scenario may be prevented by configuring the CMOS (nonvolatile BIOS memory) on the workstation to boot only to the hard drive to be protected, then password protecting the CMOS. This is a normal precaution for most public access computers. A further precaution would be to lock the PC case shut with a physical lock or tiedown cable system to prevent access to motherboard jumpers.
Deep Freeze can protect hard drive partitions of larger than 2 TB capacity (using NTFS).
Deep Freeze cannot protect the operating system and hard drive upon which it is installed if the computer is booted from another medium (such as an external hard drive, a USB device, optical media, or network server). In such cases, a user would have real access to the contents of the (supposedly) frozen system. On a Windows-based computer, this scenario may be prevented by configuring the CMOS (nonvolatile BIOS memory) on the workstation to boot only to the hard drive to be protected, then password protecting the CMOS. This is a normal precaution for most public access computers. A further precaution would be to lock the PC case shut with a physical lock or tiedown cable system to prevent access to motherboard jumpers.
Deep Freeze can protect hard drive partitions of larger than 2 TB capacity (using NTFS).
0 comments:
Post a Comment