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For example, a hacker could rename a rogue file to iexplore.exe, an app name that is not likely to be barred from using the Web. If, in fact, the end user had set his or her firewall to allow that application to access the Internet, the bad file is allowed in.

Everyone is on the SOHO firewall bandwagon, and hardly anyone is doing it right. A Trojan comes along and calls itself a basic application like netscape.exe, and it's in. This is not some future problem once the bad guys notice. These Trojans exist.

Hopefully, publicizing this kind of hole will tighten companies' security measures quick. Something this simple is scary. If you have persistent connections popping up everywhere, you don't want them to go unchecked.

Other problems are born out of the rush to get products to market. For example, the default settings of Sygate Technologies' firewall leave individual programs open to the Internet until users choose to disable access. Symantec Corp., in an effort to make its product more user-friendly, has a list of applications that automatically get permission to access the Internet so users aren't even presented with the choice. Some products, such as BlackIce Defender from Network Ice Corp., don't yet offer the ability to block outgoing transmissions to the Internet from a client machine when the client acts as a server.

Both points are valid. These firewalls were rushed to market and are poorly designed. Version 1 of these things is not a 100 percent solution; they are more like an 80 percent solution. But business is business. Everyone saw a SOHO firewall out there, and they all had to have one. Most of these offerings have to get much better in their next revision.

While some of the technical vulnerabilities likely will go away in later versions of the products, there is a psychological aspect to the problem. IT managers put an inherent amount of trust in security products, which actually can leave them vulnerable when the products show weaknesses such as these.

Since it is security, a tendency exists to think, "I can set it and forget it." That's asking for trouble. The number of telecommuters using broadband is increasing. In 2002, unfortunately, that means home machines will get trashed. Or they will be the dupes that allow a hacker into a SOHO network.