New business at home, question about network

[thestrangebrew1]

Starting a pc repair business and will be working out of my home. It's a very small business, outside of my 9-5 so I don't expect to have very many clients and most likely only have 1 client I'll be working with at a time. More than likely, I'll be working on pcs that have become infected, so I'd rather not have these on my local LAN, but I'm not sure having a seperate network for my house is even practical or even possible. So what are my options? Suggestions?

 

[ViviTheMage]

If you bring in an infected PC, do everything from a jump drive....try to keep it off of your LAN entirely.

Do you think there would be a reason to put it on your network anyway?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

If you bring in an infected PC, do everything from a jump drive....try to keep it off of your LAN entirely.

Do you think there would be a reason to put it on your network anyway?

Well, I guess not now that I think about it. I was just thinking I'd need it just to make sure connectivity was all good, but that would all depend on the client's network and how they have it set up at home, which would be outside my scope of services (as far as the repair goes).

 

[ViviTheMage]

Yeah, so I would never hook up an infected PC to the network, just use jump drives, or USB drives for backups if that is what you are providing as well.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Good idea. I was planning on just using USB drives for backups. Mind if I PM you re: some questions I have about hosting?

 

[owensdj]

If your own machines have their OS up-to-date with the latest security fixes you shouldn't have any problems, assuming you're not accessing files from the infected PC from your own machines. I've worked with machines loaded with infections connected to my own network many, many times with zero problems.

If you're really worried about this, you could get a small switch just for the machines you're working on then connect it to an internal router which is also connected to your own switch. That would keep the infected machines off your own subnet while still giving them Internet access.

 

[JackMDS]

You can get a second Router and create a Segregated Network.

You use the first level for questionable computers and the second level for your own Network.

Your own Network is then protected from the first the way we are protected from the Internet.

The principle - http://www.ezlan.net/shield.html

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into how to set this up as a just in case.