Home User Security: Your First Defense

By Moreno Gentile

The Need for a Firewall

It use to be that an anti-virus program was a home user's first (and perhaps, only) line of defense against the spread of viruses, worms, trojans, and other malicious code. Times have changed. In the era of pervasive, always-on broadband connections, today, simply having your Microsoft® Windows™ computer turned on is enough for it to get infected with the latest virus or worm.

Have you applied your weekly set of critical Microsoft security patches, or your monthly Microsoft mega-patch? What if you've been on vacation for the past few weeks? The Swiss cheese approach to applying security patches that are required to keep desktop computers safe and useable just doesn't work for the average home user. A firewall should now be a home user's first line of defense.
What is a Firewall?

The original firewalls, literally physical walls constructed to slow or cease the expansion of fires through buildings, performed a serious function in a basic way. In corporate networks, firewalls prevented unauthorized access to those networks. As the Internet grew, the need for more complex analysis of incoming data rose.

Today, we have a myriad of firewall hardware and software options available for networks large and small, with features ranging from simply watching the traffic to analyzing, refusing, and reporting in great detail. The terms personal firewall and desktop firewall are synonymous with software you install on your computer to keep the bad guys out.
How Firewalls Work

Firewalls are great tools for enhancing security and privacy. Essentially, they control the traffic flow in and out of networks or computers. They work like customs agents, determining who is safe to come and go, for what purpose, and what they can bring with them.

The "in" part is easier to understand: firewalls keep out intruders and destructive programs. The "out" part is trickier: firewalls prevent users from unwittingly sending private data into the wrong hands. For example, some browsers enable cookies, which collect data about the browser users and send that data to Web sites or external networks. Firewalls can prevent those cookies from sending that data, thereby protecting users' privacy.

Firewalls cannot be used alone and by no means give the user permission to sleep at the wheel. More small organizations and home users are installing inexpensive hardware firewalls in the form of broadband routers. This is recommended. A few popular routers are made by D-Link, NetGear and Linksys, as well some of the more popular and cost effective home firewalls include the following links:

http://www.zonealarm.com

http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/

Moreno Gentile is the owner of Quazaar, which offers IT services to home users and small office environments including networking, data backup and recovery, security, upgrades to existing infrastructure, and Web site design. To contact Moreno, call (519) 649-2553 or email mgentile@quazaar.com.

Published in Networking Today, March 2004.