[LBo] Firewalls [was: help]

[Steve Hinsley]

Sam Morgan wrote:
> did anyone have an answer for me on this question?
> 
> Sam Morgan wrote:
>> question:
>> I don't know so I'm asking but,
>> isn't one of these over the counter routers
>> simply a software firewall, like IPCOP,
>> but the software is burned into an eprom or flash memory chip?
>> so it's considered to be a hardware firewall???
>>
>>
> 
Sorry to be so long responding.

I was referring to the device being "upstream" from your computer. IMO 
this is preferable to relying on a software or personal firewall. (These 
too have their place.)

A router takes your public IP address and changes it to a private IP 
address which are non-routeable. They can't be seen from the Internet. 
This means when it "sees" unsolicited traffic it ignores it. That offers 
very good protection for the home user because if you were to be 
scanned, it would never make to your computer. It will be "cut off at 
the pass."

I do understand that a consumer router doesn't provide the fine grained 
control of a true fire wall nor does it stop outgoing traffic. I also 
understand that you can't run hardware without software, even if the 
software is embedded. (BTW most consumer routers ARE Linux boxes.) My 
point is that you want a hardware device between your computer and the 
Internet.

Sorry I took so long, but I wanted to think my response through a bit.

Steve Hinsley