Firewall Needed! Hardware Only!

LibKill | 09-05-03 | LibKill

[LibKill]

I was enjoying the benefits of Free Republic, when a system pop-up said "VSMON has failed..." or something like that.

The meaning of that is that my ZoneAlarm software firewall had failed. I had to shut down fast.

This has happened infrequently, but it has happened one time too many.

I am in the market for a hardware firewall. I want one that can pass the tests found here Gibson Research Corporation. (Will open in a new window.)

I am using a DSL modem with an ethernet card.

I can spend around $100.

Please help, FRiends.

[TomServo]

Does anyone know if you can run Zone Alarm along with the router?

Yes.

[BlessedBeGod]

Thanks!

[Cboldt]

I use a netgear MR314. It has 802.11b as well.

[willieroe]

Does anyone know if you can run Zone Alarm along with the router?

I do. No problem at all.

[NYTexan]

Linksys cable/dsl 4 port router will do the trick!

Make sure you enable Block WAN requests in the security page and change the password from the default.

[smith288]

Thanks. Does Linksys hide all ports from the outside world?

Unless you want to open 80 for web serving or 21 for FTP serving, you can open ports manually or "trigger" them. My Linksys has given me next to zero problems. Even has firmware updates for new features.

[Prodigal Son]

What's wrong with Norton?

[LibKill]

Have you scanned for viruses lately?

Full scan every week. Just did a memory scan. Clean. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Cultural Jihad]

Yes. They are independent, although if you have ZA Pro there are interlacing features.

[netmilsmom]

Yes you can. If you set up the router for DHCP you have to leave port 69 open for your non routable subnet. Plus, all of these hardware routers impliment NAT which prevents attacks.

[smith288]

Block WAN rules...no NetSends. Woo Hoo

[LibKill]

What's wrong with Norton?

As far as I know, nothing. I just happened to buy ZoneAlarm in a package deal.

[TomServo]

Thanks!

As an aside, you might want to go to linksys' site and get the latest BIOS update (if you don't already have it) and flash the ROM. No biggie - just follow the instructions.

[Mannaggia l'America]

I'm using an SMC Barricade as a firewall for my cable connection. It has a 4-port hub built into it and passes all of the Gibson tests.

[Cboldt]

Linux is cool. I love it. But setting up a firewall is not trivial.

When I went to cable modem I put in the router -- my Linux box is easily invisible to the outside world, and easily open on my local network.

Local network has WIN boxes on it too -- and they are equally invisible to the outside world. I've tried peeking in (running nmap as root from the outside), and the router is "barely there."

[Slings and Arrows]

It may just be that Zonealarm is having trouble with your OS - there are fundamental changes between Win98 and WinXP. I've been using Zonealarm with XP for several months, and had no difficulty. IMO, I'd upgrade to XP - after the WinME disaster, it is really a pleasure.

(Just my $2.0*10^-2 - I do NOT want to start an OS war!)

[PeterPrinciple]

I have a linksys router but gibson tells me my tel net port is still open. Do I need to worry, everthing else is stealth.

How do I eliminate the open telnet port???

[Cultural Jihad]

and change the password from the default.

What mischief could someone do who logged into another's router using the default password? Just curious.

[Cboldt]

They open the router, giving access to (selceted ports on) the downstream machines.

[Frapster]

Get the Linksys router. It's what I use - I had ZoneAlarm on top of it and it became apparent really quickly that I didn't need ZoneAlarm.