Daren John wrote:
>
> I am thinking about moving my home PCs over to Internet Access via my Cable
> company for the obvious speed abilities. My concern is that it is fairly
> easy for someone to "sniff" me out while I am connected, and get access to
> my desktop/laptop.
>
> Any simple safeguard recommendations out there?
I'd get a separate router/firewall box.
Likely the cheapest (but not easiest) way is to use the
Linux Router distribution
http://www.indyramp.com/mirrors/linux-router/
to build a firewall box on an old 386 or higher PC with 2
NICs and a floppy drive. No harddisk needed unless you want
local logging on the system. Check out their site for more
details. Old 486 PCs typically can be found for under $100.
Outfit it with floppy and add two NICs. One nic for the
Cable modem, and one for the local network. When buying NICs,
make sure they are on the supported hardware list for Linux.
I use a similar setup for my firewall on my DSL line. It
does all the NAT translations, etc. so my systems appear as
one system to the outside world.
Another option is to check out the documentation on your cable
modem. It may have the ability to serve as a screaning firewall.
See if it allows blocking incomming connections to ports.
--
| Bryan Andersen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://softail.visi.com |
| Buzzwords are like annoying little flies that deserve to be swatted. |
| -Bryan Andersen |
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