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Firewalls are designed to protect
you from outside attempts to access your computer, either for
the purpose of eavesdropping on your activities, stealing data,
sabotage, or using your machine as a means to launch an attack
on a third party. The vast majority of firewalls can't protect
you from virus attack.
Basically, the way a firewall
works is that it sits between your cable or DSL modem and your
computer and watches the network traffic going in and out of it.
The ports represent "channels" carrying various types
of traffic like Web traffic (port 80), e-mail (25 and 110), and
DNS (which resolves URLs53). Firewalls monitor network
conversations and filter out unauthorized traffic and traffic
that exhibits certain suspicious behavior or characteristics.
If you are using a broadband
internet connection such as cable or DSL, It is recommend
that you use a hardware firewall. They're effective,
inexpensive, and easy to configure. A decent hardware firewall
can cost as little as $50 and provide excellent protection
against common forms of attack. You should check the reviews to
find one that is right for you. A firewall is built into almost
every router these days - you use a router for sharing Internet
access among multiple computers.
A software firewall can be a
good choice too, but software firewalls can vary wildly in their
capabilities and effectiveness . Software firewalls give you a
more control over what gets allowed in and out. Use them in addition
to a hardware
firewall.
One benefit of software
firewalls is that they often include additional components that
do things like guard your computer against infiltration by
Trojan horse programs. (These are programs that are transferred
to your computer unbeknownst to you, usually hidden in something
like a downloaded file, picture, or e-mail attachment. They
sometimes even send information from your computer to somewhere
else, so some firewalls check for unwanted outgoing traffic as
well.)
What a few simple patches can do?
As
hackers learn new tricks and exploit weaknesses and
security holes in operating systems and desktop application,
the OS and application vendors continue to issue patches to make
you more secure. We help check and update all your PC's to the
meet the current highest security standards.
By applying patches
viruses would be unable to run Visual Basic scripts and can be
stopped right in their tracks.
Have can we not see this happen
again and again that a virus uses your email to mail itself to
your friends. These patches along with a good antiviral software
can easily stop it from happening.
What a Firewall cannot do?
Firewall can't really protect you against
traitors & idiots inside your network. A industrial spy
exports information through your firewall, telephone, FAX, or floppy
.
Floppy disks are a far more likely means for information to
leak from your organization than a firewall! Firewalls cannot protect you against stupidity. Users who reveal
sensitive information over the telephone are good targets for
social engineering; an attacker may be able to break into your
network by completely bypassing your firewall, if he can find
a "helpful" employee inside who can be fooled into
giving access to by opening the electronic door..
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