"What is the Truth about Firewalls? " Even under a router?

[Guest]

[Burillo]

mmm are we talking about generic home router or strong corporate firewall?

[Triplejolt]

I think we left the home market a while a go. Atleast if you compare with the original thread topic. Generic SoHo routers usually only comes equipped with a basic SPI.

But hey... leave me unchecked and I'll ramble on :p

[Burillo]

well average home users don't have an uberfirewall and that's where personal firewalls are meant to be :-) as for the uberfirewalls - never used them, so got nothing to say :-)

[Themisive]

As far as I've been able to find out, there is just one really good answer, ALWAYS use a software firewall - if possible a 2-way version that acts on both incoming AND outgoing data, and if possible, use a hardware firewall in a router.

Never try to use 2 software firewalls at the same time, they conflict and are worse than having none at all! 

By the same token, a hardware firewall may well not be updated often, it all depends when the firmware is updated, but it's usually only once a year or so.  However, a software firewall, like an anti-virus programme is updated on a much more regular basis, say at least every 2 or 3 days at the outside, so you can see from that you will get much more protection right away.

With the prevalence of on-line viruses these days, it pays to keep all your systems up to scratch, and your data safe.

[Burillo]

latest updates ain't no 100% security but nevertheless, he's right

[Info-Sec]

But as long as your stealthed, most hackers will pass you by.

Now a days a router is a must have.  And stateful packet inspection is a routers best friend.  I use the Zone Alarm Z100G and its literally a security suite in my router (firewall, antivirus, IDS) then i have my software.  Firewalls are useless you have a router to take some of the heat.

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