Re: Do I really need firewall? A newbie's question

From: Duane Arnold (notme_at_notme.com)
Date: 05/01/05 

Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 06:01:22 GMT

"Lei Hu" <leihu@nojunk.com> wrote in news:d51l7j$7to$1@nnrp.waia.asn.au:

> Dear Experts,
>
> I have a newbie question about firewall, and hope you can explain to
> me. Thanks beforehand.
>
> My home network has three computers, and uses ADSL for Internet
> connection. I just use a normal ADSL modem/router, and use 192.168.x.x
> addresses in LAN. These addresses are non-routable, which means that
> other people cannot access my computers from outside using these IP
> addresses.

But it doesn't mean that someone couldn't launch an attack against the
public IP the adsl/router is using. And they can come past the NAT router.
In addition to that, if a machine on the LAN is compromised by malware such
as a Trojan, the NAT router usually has no means to stop traffic to the
compromising site for either inbound to the machine or outbound form the
machine.

> So, why should I enable firewall in my modem/router
> settings?
>

If you have any sense, you'll enable whaterver else that NAT router has for
protection.

Duane :)

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