Cyber Security Awareness Month: Personal Firewalls

More people than ever access the Internet through a broadband service provider. But not all Broadband providers provide firewalls with their service. If you are one of those people that connect to the internet directly through a cable modem or DSL hookup, your computer is likely bombarded every minute with hundreds of attacks or probes from across the web.

During the height of some of the worst internet worms such as Deloader, Slapper, SoBig, and even Code Red, it was impossible to connect a new, unpatched Microsoft PC directly to the internet to download security updates. Before the first patch could be installed the PC was infected with something.

The only way to build a host was to install all of the patches from a CDROM. Otherwise, you had to use a firewall device or program to prevent malicious packets from reaching your PC. Thankfully most PC’s sold today have firewalls built into them, which at least buys some time for people to install patches from the web.

But personal firewalls are still needed for regular safe operation, and preferably a hardware-based solution such as a wireless router, which has a firewall built-in and preconfigured for security. Many software based solutions have themselves been the target of hackers in the past, but it is still better than nothing.

If you want a good idea of the types of attacks going on in CyberSpace, check out Arbor’s Atlas here.