firewalls

What’s a Firewall and do I need one?

Did you know that your computer has thousands of communication ports that it uses to send and receive information? When you’re connected to the Internet, there are millions of other computers out there that can connect to your computer through these ports. This can leave your computer, all your files, and any personal information stored on your computer open to attack.. You can already see where this going.

Right about now you’ve got to be be thinking, “why would anyone want to attack my computer?” Here are just a few of the reasons:

	To steal your credit card and bank account numbers to buy things in your name
	To store illegal copies of software, music and movies for other Internet users to download
	To use your computer to launch an attack on other computers causing them to crash
	Just because they can!

How do I protect my computer?

You need what's called a firewall. A firewall is like a traffic cop who sits between your computer and the outside world or, in this case, the Internet.

When you’re on-line, information or traffic passes into and out of your computer constantly. A firewall let’s you control what’s allowed to come in or go out through your computer. It watches the flow of computer information going back and forth and stops traffic that you don’t want from coming at you. For example, if you visited a web site and requested information, the firewall will allow traffic from that web site to reach your computer. If you didn’t request information from that web site, and the web site sent traffic to you anyway, the firewall wouldn't allow it to reach your computer because you didn’t specifically ask for it.

A fire wall can make you invisible to hackers. When another computer tries to connect to a port on your computer, it will check to see if that the port is open for connections. If the port is closed, your computer will usually send a message back stating that the port is closed. This lets the other computer (and its user) know that, although the port is closed, your computer is there and to keep looking for other ports that may be open. A fire wall can make your ports operate in stealth. When your ports operate in stealth, the “Port Closed” message isn’t sent back except to the sites and servers you allow. So, for all intents and purposes, you don’t exist.

Properly configured, a firewall can protect you from hackers, Trojan horses, worms, spyware, DOS (Denial Of Service) attacks, unruly Java applettes, Active Scripting and even those annoying pop ups that inundate most popular websites. An added advantage is that when you block all that unwanted traffic, your Internet speed usually gets faster.

What kind of Firewall do I need?

The first step is to check with your Internet provider. A few may provide you with some firewall protection but you may have no control over it which can be frustrating. Most ISPs, however, don’t provide any firewall protection. All you get from them is a direct connection to the Internet which gives you flexibility and control but, at the same time, leaves the burden for protecting your computer squarely in your lap.

Okay, let's assume that your ISP doesn't provide any sort of firewall protection, the next step is to decide if you need a hardware of software firewall.

A hardware firewall is a physical device, or router, that sits between your computer and the Internet. Routers are generally used when you’re part of a network of computers but they work just as well when only one computer is connected. We like using routers for a couple of reasons:

	Using a router keeps outside computers from connecting directly to your computer, and
	Routers are dedicated to protecting your computer, they don’t interfere with your computer and they can’t be compromised by your computer

If you connect to the Internet by way of cable or DSL, you might want to consider using a broadband router whether you’re part of a network or not. Broadband routers are fairly inexpensive, and give you a very high level of protection right out of the box. Broadband routers are usually easy to set up and can be configured for advanced uses such as running a web server from behind your firewall.

If you have a dialup connection or have some other reason for not wanting to use a router there are software firewalls. A software or personal firewall is a program, installed on your computer, that filters all incoming, and sometimes outgoing traffic. It allows only the information you specifically request or allow to pass through. Software firewalls tend to have more features than hardware firewalls, but they don’t have the ability to let you share your Internet connection with other computers on a network.

Windows XP includes a firewall by default. To access it, go to the properties page of any network connection, click the advanced tab and you'll find the Internet Connection Firewall. If you don’t do anything else, you should turn this on. Other popular firewalls include ZoneAlarm and BlackIce Defender.

Finally, when you believe you're protected or even if you know you're not you should visit Gibson Research and run “Shields Up”. “Shields Up” will try to access and analyze your computer’s vulnerability from the internet. It will give you a report showing you exactly how you are vulnerable, and the steps you can take to protect yourself better. It's well worth the effort.

If you would like help choosing a firewall and configuring it for your computer or network, give us a call at 928-343-9711. We'd be happy to help you.