In addition to the need for virus software and up-to-date Microsoft patches, hacker protection can be improved by adding a firewall. The purpose of a firewall is to manage the traffic entering your computer network via your broadband connection to the Internet. Your Internet connection is based on at least one IP (Internet Protocol) address. In order to ease the way information packets are routed, an addressing scheme using ports is used. The ports have different purposes. For example, incoming email traffic uses port 110 and web traffic uses port 80. There are thousands of ports and they need to be managed at some level. A hardware-based firewall is a separate device that sits between your computer systems and your Internet router. It screens all of the incoming traffic and makes sure that the packets were requested from inside the network. In addition, the firewall can let pre-designated port traffic, such as email, pass through to the network. With Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft has effectively added a software firewall to the operating system and turned it on by default. Unfortunately, a firewall can’t read your email and sort out all of your spam. It can’t stop spyware from entering your computer system, either. But, it can help to prevent hackers from directly accessing the insides of your computer systems. It also prevents some worms from doing their real damage by closing down the port traffic they are written to exploit. To make sure your systems are protected by the most appropriate firewall, contact your Responsive consultant today. |
