Re: A poor man's activity check :)

From: Juergen Nieveler (juergen.nieveler@web.de)
Date: 01/08/02 

From: Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nieveler@web.de>
Date: 8 Jan 2002 08:20:05 GMT

"Frank S" <fsexton@qwest.net> wrote in
news:0Wq_7.18284$Oc.1469984@bin1.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com:

> But the real need comes from folks that run servers. Who does that you
> say? Something as simple as wanting to let your best buddy ftp
> something to your machine is dangerous enough to need a firewall.

How will a firewall help you there? You have to open all kinds of
ports, ESPECIALLY for FTP, which as about the worst protocol ever
invented ;-)

And there've been scores of exploits for FTP servers - WU-FTPD being
the latest bad case.

> Almost everyone today would like the capability to "access" their home
> computer when away. I understand that you may not. But I'd venture to
> say that most high speed Internet users do. So... it's not really
> "hoopla", it's just that you have to temper the marketing with your
> personal needs. As always.

But that's a bit conflicting: Either they want nobody from the Internet
to access their machines, so they install a Firewall.

OR they want to access their machine from the outside, which would
require them to at least open some ports and install something that
listens on these ports (though a VPN would be a much better
solution...).

In your scenario, a Firewall would only help you if you want to limit
access based on the source IP and port number. The source IP can easily
be spoofed, though... which means that one shouldn't trust it. 

-- 
Juergen Nieveler
Support the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide: http://www.dhmo.org/
"The people united can never be ignited!"- Sgt. Colon, Ankh-Morpork Watch
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