hi everyone. i'm getting a computer soon and i need help in understanding the two types of firewall and what particular brand do you recommend. right now i just use the PC at work so i want to get a home PC. i plan to surf the web and emails mostly. so what firewall (hardware and/or software) do you recommend? should i get a hardware firewall? i know nothing of this but have a prefered interest. any info on this type is appreciated. thanks a bunch for your time and help. [img]smile.gif[/img]

www.sygate.com

I recommend this one. It's free, and it's good!

<font color="#f683ad">I reccomend a hardware based firewall such as a Linksys router....I used nortons Internet firewall and the router...the router made it so that Norton didn't have anything useful to do [img]smile.gif[/img]

Another little neat thing about the hardware option...no CPU cycles lost to the firewall...so Games are unaffected....speed wise.</font>

[ 05-16-2003, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

For Dialup, a software firewall will be sufficient. For broadband, you can get away with software but a hardware firewall is recommended since the computer is connected to the internet longer and software firewalls can be beaten given time. (So can hardware come to that, but it takes a lot longer and unless you attract attention most hackers will have better things to do)

hmmm ... hardware firewall sounds good. any specs i should look for when buying? remember that i know nothing of hardware firewall so any details is a great help. also how are they set up? would i need to update it often like with software firewall.

Linksys is the home network standard. I'm assuming you'll have a broadband connection, so you'll need one anyway. You can get Cisco if you want to spend a bundle ($400+ used). Computer installed firewalls are kind of a waste. Much better to simply disable the net interface when you're not using it or turn off the PC.

I use a Linksys BEFSX41 hardware router for my home/office network, along with Nortin Firewall loaded and running on every PC. You can't be too safe.

I'd look into a wireless router based upon 802.11g if I was buying new, but it depends on what your needs are. You'll also want to make sure that any router you buy is uPnP compatible for maximum compatibility with Microsoft.

NOTE: A router is not a firewall. The consumer grade stuff like LinkSys does implement NAT (Network Address Translation), and limited connection rejection based on source ip/port. and is a first defense. But often they don't run a stateful packet filter, which is the basis for most decent firewall implementations.

Be wary of how you set up any wireless router. Most people configure for DHCP. While this is easy for network set up, this gives a HUGE whole for anyone with a wireless ethernet card to access your supposedly private LAN. If you run a wireless router, I strongly suggest that you become familiar with MAC filtering/authentication and WEP encryption.

You may not think you have anything worth stealing on your PC. But, if nothing else you have bandwidth - given away freely in your name.

The default config for a LinkSys wireless router is totaly insecure.

I just started using WLAN tonight (Linksys BEFW11S4), and have configured WEP (128-bit). I looked at MAC Filtering briefly tonight, but have put it on the back burner. Any thoughts or highlights? Is it as simple as entering the wireless MAC address and saying "only him"?

I realize I need to RTFM, and plan on doing that, but your comment hit me at just the right time [img]smile.gif[/img]

TIA

*B*

I agree that a hardware solution is always best - but it tends to cost significantly more and is not always suitable (ie for a laptop on the move).

Maybe this will help!
Firewall comparison chart

You may want to read this webpage from Techtv. I also use the Linksys BEFW11S4. Wep did affect the performance of my wireless network my estimate was about 25%. Techtv claims as high as 50% performance loss. http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/pr...395024,00.html. Although routers are not considered firewalls, they use (NAT) (Network Address Translation). A basic form of firewall. Linksys usually comes with ZoneAlarm firewall which i don't use i have Nortons Firewall. If Microsoft and NASA can be hacked what would they want with me? hehe [img]smile.gif[/img]

90% of 'hackers' are simply using tools created by others; tools that they have no real understanding of. 10% of hackers really do understand the theory behind the tools that they are using but probably less than half of those could actually write their own.

The remaining 5% of (expert) hackers are generally too busy having 'fun' with the 'big boys' (Microsoft, the Pentagon etc.) to be bothered with you.

Your firewall then, is really to defend yourself against the 95% who are mostly made up of semi-ignorant opportunists. Another interesting fact about this group is that most hackers are like rapists - usually they are known to their victim in some way (ex/current employees, fellow forum members that you managed to upset., ex boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse etc.). Defending yourself against this group is really rather easy if you adopt a layered solution (firewall+anti-virus+trojan detector+sandbox etc.)

Beware of firewall products like ZoneAlarm and Norton - they tend to have default settings that are really too weak to stop an attack. If you use them, delete all of the default settings and set up tight rules yourself. For example, Norton has a default 'Allow all DNS activity' setting. That means that any attack I commit on your computer using port 53 and the UDP protocol is likely to succeed... :(

So my advice to anyone using these so-called user friendly solutions is that the price you pay for 'user friendly' software is a solution that may not be as secure as you think. Better to do a little bit of research and find out yourself which programs should be using which ports and protocols and in what direction the traffic should going - and set your firewall accordingly. Any firewall software that does not allow you to define such rules (especially on an individual application by application basis) should be dumped.

<font color="#f683ad">I kept Norton running for a year after I got my Linksys router...once the Router was in place, Norton had nothing to do or to report. The logs remained empty...so I feel pretty comfy with just the Linksys, and now that we use a couple of wireless connections in the house, we have enabled the WEP and appear to have a fairly safe, reliable internet connection....prior to my Linksys I had a hugeproblem with some people in Romania hacking my boxes...major PITA's. </font>