Published December 2004

Protect your computer, data
with a line of fire

By Lionel Contreras
Guest Columnist

A good firewall doesn’t require a Ph.D. or lots of money. In fact, one of the best personal firewalls out there is quite simple — and free. So, once you’ve finished reading this article, you will have all the tools you need to properly protect yourself.

First off, let’s talk about why you need a firewall: Information theft is one.

Stealing information is just that: when someone networks onto your system, browses through your files and downloads the tasty morsels that hold bank account numbers, payroll info or any other personal information that can be used for identity theft.

Then there is computer hijacking. This is when someone puts something on your computer, such as a zombie-bot. With a zombie-bot, your computer is directed to a pre-selected chat room when you log onto the Internet. In the chat room, the zombie-bot then gets attack information and turns your computer into an Internet assaulting system that (with hundreds of thousands of other infected systems) will start doing what is known as a Denial of Service attack, or “Dos.”

A “Dos” is where they send a constant stream of packet-data to a single I.P. address, or Web site. The address gets so overwhelmed, it is unable to respond to all the packets, and then those who want to get to the Web site get the “can’t find server or server is too busy” message, which prevents the Web owner from doing business on the Internet.

Except for Internet isolation (not having any network connections), there is no complete, 100 percent effective way of preventing such attacks on your computer. But there is comfort in knowing that as an individual, you are one of millions on the Internet.

Hopefully, this means that no one is going to put in the effort to attack your personal computer, unless, of course, you bring down over $1 billion in personal income (that would be in U.S. or Euro dollars, not Turkish lira). But if they do, a firewall can stop them from doing any harm.

The best firewall I have seen so far is free to very inexpensive. It is called Zonealarm and not only stops things from getting into your computer but also lets you know what is trying to get out of your computer.

You control what is going in and out. Programs can’t sneak past it, so you know what is going on. It can also “stealth” your computer, so when an outside source tries to “ping” your computer, or check to see if you are out there on the Internet, your computer doesn’t respond. It thus appears that your computer isn’t even on, and you appear invisible to those out there looking for someone to ambush.

To learn more about Zonealarm, go to www.zonelabs.com. Click on download and buy. On the right side is a small list, click on the one that says Zonealarm. That will bring up the info on Zonealarm, Click on “Free Download.”

I do not suggest Black Ice, as it lets things through that are in-coming and outgoing that Zonealarm caught and stopped.

For more free firewalls for PC, Mac or Linux, go to www.free-firewall.org.

Once you have a firewall installed, you’ll have one less thing to worry about when you are online.

Lionel Contreras is an information systems technician with The Herald.

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