Re: DSL Firewall Question (was List turnaround speed) -- MIDRANGE-L

The need for a firewall for me is related to method of connecting to the 
internet & the quality of the ISP in a number of areas (AOL is very bad in 
some areas & pretty good in others) & risks associated with some places we go 
on the internet.

With me still on AOL, the likelihood of some hacker getting to my home PC 
that way is rather remote, but still possible through one of the scams ... 
there is a non-stop stream of "click on this" which is coming from criminals 
to AOL members & most of them rather illiterate criminals.  

The only clever ones are the first to come up with some new scam - the last 
"good" one I saw was claiming to be from AOL billing telling me that there 
had been a problem with my credit card account when the monthly billing was 
done & I need to click on here to go to AOL billing to straighten it out, 
which was really a web page that LOOKED like AOL billing as part of an 
elaborate scheme to steal credit card numbers.  I managed to figure that out 
instead of falling for it.

Once one criminal had figured this out, there were a thousand copycats.

But when we are connected to the internet all the time via some high speed 
line that is purely for that purpose, which is what is coming to me, then we 
are at risk of joining the conspiracy of DOS & other things, where criminals 
recruit unknowing personal PCs to participate in mass attacks on their 
ultimate targets.

There was also the bit about Microsoft being hacked because an employee had a 
home computer with no firewall - the hacker got into the employee home PC 
then from there Microsoft security had a pervasive flaw in making it too easy 
for unauthorized persons using employee machines to get into Microsoft 
corporate systems.  And of course these people are forever coming up with new 
ways to cause mischef.

Home PC Security with DSL/NIC:
I need to find some way of turning off the high speed internet connection 
when I am using my PC for something other than internet connection & I not 
yet know if that is doable for the system that I will be getting;
I will need to have a firewall, when in fact I did not need one for dial up 
AOL;
there are various tips I need to understand ... what does this do for me & 
what are the pros & cons of 
unplug physical connection
turn off file and print sharing options

MacWheel99@aol.com (Alister Wm Macintyre) (Al Mac)

>  From:    rob@dekko.com  
>  
>  I have a question.  Why would he now need a firewall at his home versus
>  when he had a modem connection?  Or should he have had one then?  If that
>  is the case should anyone who hooks up to the internet; personal or
>  business, modem or otherwise, have a firewall?
>  
>  Rob Berendt

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