<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 28/11/2007, <b class="gmail_sendername">Karl Lattimer</b> <<a href="mailto:karl@qdh.org.uk">karl@qdh.org.uk</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>On Wed, 2007-11-28 at 15:34 +0000, Peter Childs wrote:<br>><br>><br>> On 28/11/2007, Karl Lattimer <<a href="mailto:karl@qdh.org.uk">karl@qdh.org.uk</a>> wrote:<br>> OK, this is bad advice ^^ see bad advice... The firewall in
<br>> windows is<br>> the only thing stopping the slammer worm and a bunch of<br>> others. Don't<br>> switch it off because it is added bloat!!!! It isn't, the<br>> standard
<br>> windows firewall is an adequate solution its not ideal but it<br>> WORKS for<br>> the purposes it is intended, protecting windows' penchant for<br>> opening<br>> ports on LAN networks.
<br>><br>><br>> If its a worm the virus protection should have stopped it. A Firewall<br>> will not stop a worm.<br>><br><br>The biggest load of shit I've ever heard!!!!<br><br>A WORM/REMOTE EXPLOIT CAN ATTACK USING A BUFFER OVERFLOW EXPLOIT AGAINST
<br>AN OPEN PORT FOR INSTANCE, A FIREWALL BLOCKS THIS INITIAL ATTACK RATHER<br>THAN REMOVING THE MALWARE AFTER INFECTION HAS TAKEN PLACE!<br><br>Anti-virus is a damage limitation tool (and by no means perfect,<br>generally leaving a few twitching tendrils of malware), not an active
<br>interrogator of incoming traffic like DEEP PACKET INSPECTION, firewalls<br>ultimately prevent services being exploited in the most part by blocking<br>access to certain ports.<br><br>> A firewall is a dedicated appliance, or software running on another
<br>> computer, which inspects network traffic passing through it, and<br>> denies or permits passage based on a set of rules.<br><br>appliance meaning... a computer with software in it? And why does it<br>need to be dedicated? I mean if my web server is in a DMZ its gonna have
<br>ip tables on it!<br><br>> see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(networking)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(networking)</a><br><br>Of course, you get all your knowledge regarding firewalls from
<br>wikipedia, not erm... I dunno Cisco internetworking systems (great free<br>as in beer book) or the netfilter mailing list, or the countless white<br>papers on IP Tables you've read.<br><br></blockquote></div><br>Actually this is what I was taught at University. Its the standard definition of a firewall.
<br><br>Just like not all things people call viruses are in fact viruses they may be worms, trojan horses etc etc but all covered by what is a now a standard tool that protects against many things.<br><br>All I'm trying to say is that most windows firewall software is badly set up and usually people just blindly click Yes when asked.
<br><br>If used properly its a useful too but most people don't understand whats what...<br><br>Peter.<br>