Question Re: Firewalls & Cable Routers

[Dan]

I use a Linksys BEFSR41 cable router. Among other things, the router creates a NAT firewall. With that in place should I use another firewall, e.g., ZoneAlarm or Sygate? Or is that an unnecessary redundancy?

 

[KouklatheCat]

I use the Linksys one port router and a five port hub on my set up. I am not running a firewall. According to Gibson Research Corporation all my computers show up as stealth.

 

[Mje]

Nat firewalls will only block incoming connections... They won't block outgoing connections. For this reason, most people will reccommend something like Personal Firewall or Zone Alarm as well. It's definately much more secure than no firewall. Personally, I don't use firewall software, just the NAT based router, but on the other computers in my house for other people have it on.

Trojans and worms could be built to get around NAT based firewalls, although it does put the creator at risk, because the program will have to be hard coded to establish an outgoing connection. I don't know if there are any that do this right now... Maybe someone else can elaborate a little more.

 

[bunker]

I have the same router but use ZoneAlarm to catch the occassional spyware that tries to access the internet.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the replies. I'll install ZA Pro as a safeguard.