Firewalls

[johnjohn320]

OK, gimme the lowdown on firewalls. Are they necessary for someone like me (just an ordinary kid in his basement surfin the web?) If so, any recommendations? Are there any free (but still good) ones?

Most importantly, I know that firewalls can be roadblocks to some functionality. What would I lose? Is it easy to enable/disable the firewall whenever I feel like it?

Thanks.

 

[Pastore]

you dont need one

 

[Russ]

Excellent and free for home use. The internet is like sex; it is better to be safe then sorry.

Russ, NCNE

 

[pulpp]

<< you dont need one >>




exactly, if you have common sense, you dont need one.

 

[johnjohn320]

What does common sense have to do getting hacked?

 

[syzygy]

zonealarm, sygate, and tiny are all free. when i'm bored, firewalls make
for interesting viewing, watching all these pathetic script kiddies and
hacker wannabee's ping your machine in a vain attempt to locate a hole.
sometimes i trace them and hold back the urge to flood. i would
recommend zonealarm.

 

[Platypus]

John, im sure someones not going to waste their time on a dialup connection. No offense

 

[johnjohn320]

Well what kind of functionality do you lose?

 

[Soybomb]

Being smart or careful doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with it. If you're on broadband I recommend a firewall, either ZoneAlarm for windows (free), or my personal favorite is to setup a linux box as a router doing firewalling/NAT. With network address translation they're gonna have a really hard time doing anything to you since the machines on the inside are assigned a non-internet routable ip address. Of course you need to make sure the linux/bsd/whatever box is secure. If you're on dialup...well I don't consider myself an attractive target then.

 

[Alienwho]

Yeah using a firewall on a dialup is pretty much useless.

 

[CromNogger]

.

 

[CromNogger]

No it isn't. If you're on a lot, it's not useless at all. If someone knew you and had the intent to hack, being on dialup wouldn't matter. They could easily find your IP if they talked to you using an old version of ICQ or using Trillian, or many other programs to find your IP very easily. Once they do that, and once they trick you into accepting a Trojan Horse virus (it's not always too difficult, especially with trusted people), then you're screwed. If you have a firewall, you're much safer.

Russ suggested one of the best ones, ZoneAlarm. It's free and it's good. Same with Tiny Personal Firewall.

 

[Soybomb]

You don't need any special programs to find someone's ip if you're talking to them through icq or something, you can do that with things built into windows/dos. If you can't trust your friends then definately get one no matter what. I think my friends know if they'd do something like that to me, I'd come to their house and just wack their hard drive with a small hammer.

 

[Tiger]

<< John, im sure someones not going to waste their time on a dialup connection. >>



Falacy #1.
Because you're on a dial-up you are safe or un-interesting to the script kiddies.
If all you do is get online for 20 minutes to get/send your mail you'll probably never need a firewall.
Any longer than that and you are a target just as if you were on DSL or Cable.

I posted in another thread on the same topic about the college kid in Argentina who banged away on every port between 1024 and 3000 for an hour one night while I was doing a download. This wasn't just innocent pinging, he/she tried every port 2 or 3 times.

I use the freebie ZA and I have lost 0 functionality. ICQ, MSM, AIM all work as does my FTP client and any browser I've ever tried.

 

[Alienwho]

<< No it isn't. If you're on a lot, it's not useless at all. If someone knew you and had the intent to hack, being on dialup wouldn't matter. They could easily find your IP if they talked to you using an old version of ICQ or using Trillian, or many other programs to find your IP very easily. Once they do that, and once they trick you into accepting a Trojan Horse virus (it's not always too difficult, especially with trusted people), then you're screwed. If you have a firewall, you're much safer.

Russ suggested one of the best ones, ZoneAlarm. It's free and it's good. Same with Tiny Personal Firewall. >>


Sorry man, but if you accept a trojan from some guy on ICQ, a firewall has absolutely freaking nothing to do with that. It's not like he snuck it on your computer, he sent it to you and you accepted



<< Once they do that, and once they trick you into accepting a Trojan Horse virus (it's not always too difficult, especially with trusted people), then you're screwed. If you have a firewall, you're much safer. >>


That's a load and a half.

 

[Tiger]

Alienwho is right.

Firewalls have absolutely nothing to do with viruses of any type.

 

[Soybomb]

Viruses yes, trojans, not necessarily. Lets assume I'm a dumbass (shaddup ) and accept a file from my friend on icq that turns out to be back orifice. Zone Alarm will still ask me if I want to allow that application to access the internet/act as a server to the internet. If I'm just a semi-dumbass I'll go no and then beat my friend with a blunt object. If you're dumb as a brick, well then nothing can help you.

 

[Alienwho]

<< Viruses yes, trojans, not necessarily. Lets assume I'm a dumbass (shaddup ) and accept a file from my friend on icq that turns out to be back orifice. Zone Alarm will still ask me if I want to allow that application to access the internet/act as a server to the internet. If I'm just a semi-dumbass I'll go no and then beat my friend with a blunt object. If you're dumb as a brick, well then nothing can help you. >>


Yeah, if somebody sends you a file that they say is an mp3 or something, but it says, &quot;IFYOUDOUBLECLICKMEYOURCOMPUTERWILLDIE.exe&quot; you deserve it. And no i'm not going to mention anything that has to do with 40L.

 

[Jfur]

I highly recommend the ZA fiewwall mentioned above. I have personally watched thousands of hits come at my computer, amny would have done nothing, but once in a hile they are directed RIGHT at me. Last week, someone scanned ALL of my ports. I ended up having to change the ethernet card, because they just kept going and going... I have also &quot;caught&quot; three different trojans this year with Norton Antivirus, including SubSeven and BackOrifice. This has happened on dialup and Cable.

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

The only dent i have on my Ford Ranger is on the firewall.Its from stepping on the gas pedal so hard trying to get the POS 4 cyl. to get up to freeway speed.

 

[Tiger]

Soybomb is right.

Unfortunately even good software won't protect dumbasses.
Pilot error kills more machines than anything else.