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Hardware Firewall Articles?

I am expecting my ADSL connection to go live today and I'm getting a bit concerned about security.

I have 4 x PC's (including a laptop) connected to a Linksys WAP/Modem/Router, I have stopped using the WAP because it stops working from time to time which is a pain.

I have temporarily installed Norton Personal Firewall on all 4 PC's to give me some protection, but this is not really a long term solution.

I have one PC, a 2.4GHz P4, that I could use as a h/w firewall, presumably with Linux rather than Windows for extra security.

I am struggling to get my head round what to connect where. I imagine the firewall PC would connect to the modem/router with one NIC and to a second router (which I have) via a second NIC using a different address range.

That effectively means that none of the PC's on the second router will be able to 'see' the network on the first router - and the Internet won't be able to see these 'internal' PC's.

If I'm correct so far then how do I browse the Internet and pick up mail and newsgroups from the PC's connected to the second router?

I am hopeful that there are some articles around that will lead me through this, can anybody point me to one that will take me through step by step?

Many thanks.

Reply to
Jeff Gaines
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Much worse than crap... ;)

Reply to
Kerodo

"Jeff Gaines" confessed in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net:

Have you considered a device like the Netgear WGR614, that is a WiFi hub and router w/Firewall?

This kind of device, selling for about $50 these days, will give most home users the kind of protection they need.

-- ipgrunt

Reply to
IPGrunt

[snipped]

Many thanks. Since my first post I have 'gone live', the main issue at the moment is I keep trying to 'disconnect' but I'll get used to it :-)

The Linksys WAG54G I am using does have a built in firewall, which is enabled, and since re-booting the PC's after I went live Norton PF has not reported any hacking attempts.

If the firewall in the Linksys is sufficient on its own then I could certainly save a lot of trouble just using that. Are these built in firewalls reasonably secure? If I understand it the Linksys runs an embedded version of Linux.

Reply to
Jeff Gaines

Linksys uses NAT for protection of the local computers, it's not a firewall, but a firewall "like" feature that protects you.

NAT means that only things you invite into your network (even things you don't realize you're inviting in) can get to your network - unless you open/forward ports from the outside to the inside in the router.

You also need to secure the wireless side or anyone near enough can access your local network without your permission.

Reply to
Leythos

crap.

THe deinstallation of the crap might be one-

What do you want to filter with that? Gigabit ethernet with hundreds of machines on both sides of the box? A 2.4 GHz CPU is even more than complete overkill for that purpose, an old 486 will do for that.

Wolfgang

Reply to
Wolfgang Kueter

"Jeff Gaines" confessed in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net:

That firewall should be secure, but you've got to be configured properly to be secure. As Leythos said, learn to use NAT and how it works for you. Everyone should be the John Wayne of their network--it's the American way.

Keep reading and learning about networking and network services. Of if it is that important to you, spend a couple of hundred dollars and hire a consultant to look over your configuration.

Either way, you'll feel much better about having your LAN connected to the internet 24/7. You'll be amazed at how often your border gateway is probed and/or attacked randomly, all day and all night long. Depending on your upstream provider, you should expect malware traffic at your gateway on the order of hundreds of connection attempts per hour. 99.9% of these should be blocked so that these sources of trouble aren't even aware that a router exists at your address. The Linksys will do this, again, if you are properly configured. Doesn't help to check twice.

Then when you are satisfied that you are protected, remember to copy your configuration to disk.

Good luck, but never let your guard down.

-- ipgrunt

Reply to
IPGrunt

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