Firewalls (was Comcast Paranoia)

[David Carter]

Jonathan,

I am on DSL, with phone line into DSL modem, with modem into a Linksys
Instant Broadband Etherfast Cable/DSL router, with 4-port 10/100 switch",
Model No. BEFSR41 V.2, with 2 computers attached to the Linksys.  I have
ZoneAlarm installed on the HDs to warn me of things coming in and trying to
go out.

Are there changes I can make to the Linksys software configuration to
accomplish what you suggested, "All internal machine-specific info should be
stripped by the firewall and replaced by it's own identification scheme."
Or, do I need specific "firewall" software?  Any suggested product? (running
Win ME until I partition 40gb HD, then delete ME and install Linux and
Mandrake).

David Carter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Hutchins" <hutchins at opus1.com>
To: <kclug at kclug.org>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 10:59 AM
Subject: Comcast Paranoia

> Any properly configured firewall will appear to the outside network to be
a
> single, tightly closed machine.  For a home network with no need to serve
> internal resources promiscuously to any outside node, there will be no
> reason to allow anything through the firewall that would allow scanning or
> identification of the machines behind it.  All internal machine-specific
> info should be stripped by the firewall and replaced by it's own
> identification scheme.
>
> This is not to say that all firewals are properly configured. but we're
not
> talking about plugging a raw hub into the modem either.
>
>
>
>
>