Sir Light wrote: > Mark, > > When I went online with COX, one thing above all else is that I knew I MUST, let me scream that LOUDLY again, ***MUST*** have a firewall in place. > > Why? Simple... > > To stop people from coming into my network with things I do NOT want like viruses, people trying to hack into my boxes, all them infected boxes trying to infect my boxes and all them sciptkiddies just playing around. > > With the exception of a few ports like 25, 80 and a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head, you are pretty much wide open to the above nasties from ANYWHERE, > inside and outside of COX's network which is why a firewall is a MUST. > > One thing I read is that a naked Microsoft Windows box can be taken over in something like under 5 minutes even with all the patches applied. A Linux box setup to be a firewall, well... next to impossible. > > try 37 seconds (tested this with an exposed vm and watched on a linux host using wireshark). Problem is, I have seen linux boxes succumb to network originated attacks, even with iptables fully configured and in place. However, the probability that a linux firewall will be pwned is far lower than that or a bare MS box. Given this, I'd still rather use OpenBSD and PF. its a lot more powerful and requires a lot less overhead (typical install is under 2 GB on a base system). > One thing I have turned off is the PING response which if someone were to ping my firewall, it's like talking to a blank wall. > > Some ISP's don't like this and may turn off your internet thinking you don't have anything hooked up (I have seen it happen when cox was formerly @home). There are others out there that still depend on ping to see if your system is connected (never mind the DHCP traffic your machine might generate). > *pets his firewall* This firewall has served me very very well. :) > > Jon > > You've been lucky (and probably watch the firewall closely). --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss