no firewall - risks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim923
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Tim923

I run Zonealarm, but what exactly can a hacker do to a cable or DSL
Internet user with no firewall. Can they delete and add files at
will?
 
Tim923 said:
I run Zonealarm, but what exactly can a hacker do to a cable or DSL
Internet user with no firewall. Can they delete and add files at
will?
Click to expand...

Depends on the OS and if it is Windows, whether or not you have kept up
to date with the patches. IMNSHO, a router is far better protection
expressly if it has NAT (Network Address Translation). The last hole in XP
which allowed for an infected machine to search for and infect other XP
systems was stopped cold by those with routers (as described above), even if
their windowsXP was not patched


--

^^^^^
(@@)
-----o00o-(_)-o00o-------------
From the Desk of Sugien
/}
@###{ ]::::::Dino-Soft Software::::::>
\}
http://www.dino-soft.org
---------------Oooo-------------
oooO ( )
( ) ) /
\ ( (_/
\_)
 
Windows 98. It's updated, but I think they stopped making updates.

It's an old, slow computer @300MHz.
 
Quoth the raven Tim923:
I run Zonealarm, but what exactly can a hacker do to a cable or DSL
Internet user with no firewall. Can they delete and add files at
will?
Click to expand...

I don't know if Will cares, but yes, they can. Most likely you will be
infested with zombie trojans in short order. It is said a new,
unfirewalled XP system will live about a minute online before it is
compromised. (Well, maybe ten minutes...)
 
MJD said:
And I believed them when they said "Sugien has left the Internet"
Click to expand...

Don't believe everything said by fools, especially those here, well that is
except for me, rofl


--

^^^^^
(@@)
-----o00o-(_)-o00o-------------
From the Desk of Sugien
/}
@###{ ]::::::Dino-Soft Software::::::>
\}
http://www.dino-soft.org
---------------Oooo-------------
oooO ( )
( ) ) /
\ ( (_/
\_)
 
Windows 98. It's updated, but I think they stopped making updates.

It's an old, slow computer @300MHz.
Click to expand...

If you have the skills to run without a FW and AV then by all means you
should do it. But if you're like most home users who don't have those
skills, then I would suggest you run with both.

Duane :)
 
Yeah, McAfee was slowing up the computer too much, especially on a
computer that was slow to begin with. Now it's AVG.
 
Yeah, McAfee was slowing up the computer too much, especially on a
computer that was slow to begin with. Now it's AVG.
Click to expand...

The other thing you can do is put a cheap NAT router in front of the
machine that cost as much as ZA. That way, the O/S would be protected and
you need no FW on the machine to slow it down. You can get a router on
sale for $20. Yes, the host base FW and the O/S must react to the scans
and attacks that slows the machine down in doing other things with a
direct connection to the Internet, as they suck-up the machine's
resources to do it.

However, I would use a good AV. I think most of today's AV(s) can be set
so that it's not memory resident so that it will not suck-up the
machine's resources. Maybe, there is one where you can scan your emails
on demand too and not be resident in memory when you don't need it.

Duane :)
 
I run Zonealarm, but what exactly can a hacker do to a cable or DSL
Internet user with no firewall. Can they delete and add files at
will?
Click to expand...

Well, Blaster and Lsass come to mind...
 
Windows 98. It's updated, but I think they stopped making updates.

It's an old, slow computer @300MHz.
Click to expand...


Throw Suse or Mandrake linux on it, it'll run just GREAT. Then you can
laugh at all the virus and trojan warnings!
 
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