New Computer? Six Steps to Safer Surfing

Mon Dec 20 17:05:00 UTC 2004

At 09:14 PM 12/18/04 -0500, Sean Donelan wrote:
>I wouldn't rely on software firewalls.  At the same store you buy your 
>computer, also buy a hardware firewall.  Hopefully soon the motherboard 
>and NIC manufacturers will start including built-in hardware firewalls.

I guess my question is: why rely on a firewall at all? Yes, a firewall at 
ingress to a network will reduce the probability or effectiveness of an 
attack from "outside" in many cases. But in many cases the infection is 
from "inside", and in any event something in the network or in the end 
system at the edge of the network can only really address link and network 
layer attacks effectively.

I personally would far rather presume that the end system is responsible 
for its own security, and that there are security considerations at every 
layer. Reduce the incidence and track attacks with network-based tools, but 
in the final analysis build the applications and stack code to withstand 
attacks. 