What is a Firewall

[muckshifter]

What is a Firewall ... Do I need one?

In construction, a firewall is a non-flammable wall that prevents fires from spreading throughout a building. Homes, for example, may have a firewall between the garage and the rest of the house to prevent garage fires from threatening other rooms.

With the internet, the term firewall is more commonly used in computer networking. Like the firewalls used in homes and buildings, computer firewalls act as a barrier between computers on a network. For companies with a computer network or for individuals with a permanent connection to the internet (such as through ADSL or cable), a firewall is critical. Without a firewall, intruders on the network would likely be able to destroy, tamper with or gain access to the files on your computer.

Firewalls can come in the form of hardware or software. Without getting into the complex details of how firewalls work, suffice it to say that function with a set of filters that are constantly monitoring traffic on the network. Whenever a packet of information triggers one of the filters, the firewall prevents it from passing through in the attempt to prevent damage. Of course, firewalls sometimes block wanted traffic, and through a continual process of refinement, the filters can be customized to improve their efficacy.

Many computer users, who access the internet via a broadband router, may already be benefiting from a firewall. The router itself may be configured to serve as a firewall; any nefarious attacks from the network are halted at the router thereby sparing any ill effects to the computer. Such a hardware firewall can be, and should be, further bolstered with a secondary line of defence in the form of a software firewall; you can never be too safe when using the internet!

I'll cover which Firewall is best … soon.

Mucks

 

[Quadophile]

Just stumbled upon this disturbing article on Firewall

Firewall

 

[muckshifter]

I'm happy with MS's Firewall ... but I hide behind a NAT Router.

I'll be getting to the "who's good and who's not" later next week.


For now, any Firewall is better than none.

 

[Me__2001]

if you have MS antispyware or Spybot with the resident thing you should be ok, whenever i install something i get pop ups telling me of registry changes

 

[muckshifter]

Microsoft has received a report of an unexpected behavior in the way that the Windows Firewall User Interface handles malformed entries in the Windows Registry. By creating malformed Windows Firewall exception entries in the Windows Registry, an exception could be created in the firewall that would not be displayed in the Windows Firewall User Interface. However, this exception is displayed by the command line firewall administration tools.

It is important to note that this is not a vulnerability. Administrative privileges are required to access the associated section of the Windows Registry that contains this configuration information. By using documented methods to manage and create Windows Firewall exceptions, it is unlikely that a malformed registry entry will be produced which would exhibit this behavior. It is more likely that an attacker who has already compromised the system would create such malformed registry entries with intent to confuse a user.

 

[Quadophile]

Yes I have Spybot, Spyware Blaster, MS Anti-Spyware installed. Yesterday MS Antispyware reported a Trojan in registry, something to do with MSN Messanger and I had it deleted from the system, all is OK. This was on my main rig and not on the Laptop since I do not use Messanger at all but my son does on the Desktop.

 

[Edison]

alphashield

Well, i've given up with configuring my router and software firewalls. I reckon you need a degree in PCs to understand them. If i go on a firewall test site, they seem to find loads of holes in just a few mins.

The worst bit? I went round to my dads, a self confessed PC dummy, and he asked me to try out his PC on the same test sites. I should have twigged he had been up to something. Anyway, i visited each in turn, and, i kid you not, his PC blew them away!!!

It transpired that he had found the idiots solution to firewalls, a totally automatic solution, literally plug and play. Its one of these >>> alphashield

Its tiny, a little box thats about the size of a fag packet. It clearly allows normal internet browsing etc, but prevents anyone even reaching your PC in the first place, unlike software firewalls.

I had a look at the website for ages. Its an expensive solution (you certainly pay a price for being an idiot) but hey, my stuff and peace (let alone state) of mind are worth it. So its on my Christmas list. It only works with an ADSL modem, fine for me but check what you have first - they do the modems anyway if you need one.