Home Network Firewall

Kram Nonrev · 04-06-2005, 20:41

Hi,

I am about to purchase a router to setup a network at home
- Linksys WRT54GSUK.

Looking at the forum so far it appears that I still need my SURFboard Modem and then need to connect this via Ethernet to the Router.

Does this mean my other Wired ethernet connections to the router are really protected by the SPI firewall built in or are they effectively Ethernet switched directly to the Surfboard ??

I ask this as something I have read says that the router should be the 'edge' machine running a Firewall that protects everthing else but this assumes the Internet connection coming in from something other than an Ethernet network connection.

Does this make any sense ?

Thx in advance

nffc · 04-06-2005, 20:45

Firstly

- hope you stick around!

It has NAT which by design is a primitive firewall- all PCs connecting through the router, either wired or wireless, have basic protection from attacks originating from the Internet (inbound).

However, you should still have a personal firewall on each PC, so that you can control what traffic is leaving your PC (outbound) as a router alone will not provide that. Plus, you have an extra line of defence then.

Don't forget the wireless security, and if you want to use the network file/printer sharing don't forget to add the local IPs into the trusted range on your personal (software) firewall!

HTH

Kram Nonrev · 04-06-2005, 22:33

OK -

So everything goes thru the routers Firewall but its primitive - are there better Routers out there I should consider ?

Am I right in thinking there really isn't a combined router/switch/WAP that doesn't need the Surfboard modem ?

Cheers for the speedy reply.
Looks like a great forum so expect I will be back. If I get this working I might even be able to answer some questions !!

nffc · 04-06-2005, 23:02

The linksys is fine- stick with the modem though, you can get ones that include dsl modems but if you have one, they're quite honestly not worth it.

And really, the firewall/NAT should be adequate for your needs. That router has a good reputation. I can't think of any reason not to get it.