ian said:

thank god

now come over and debate the fall of the comic book industry with us over this way...

AaronSuperior said:

On my way sir!

ian said:

that is classic.

step does a fine job of looking bad on his own. dont trip.

iridescence said:

i try my best

..

ian said:

lol, naaa you didn't make me look bad
i would have looked bad, if i stopped to argue with you
instead of giving my attentiom to my girl.
but seeing as she is out and about right now
ima cary on some more



..

you contradict yourself ian, by stating firewalls are not effective, then countering that by saying that hackers only look for virgin pc's.

being on the internet without any sort of security or protection can be dangerous since
your system and network is effectively open to the whole internet and can easily be infiltrated by any person looking for an easy target. therefore hardware and software firewalls are the first line of defence in protecting your systems. firewalls may not provide 100% security from dedicated hackers since all systems have some sort of vulnerability but they are a deterrent and provide a strong security measure for networks from the everyday regular kid looking for a challenge. as you mentioned firewalls are all about ‘choosing exactly what traffic you want to permit to and from your network – what protocols and port numbers and set up rules correctly’

obviously hardware and software firewalls both have their advantages and disadvantages . i personally believe that a combination of both should be used to provide maximum security. software firewalls are easier to configure than hardware ones and often provide additional components such as protection for your computer against infiltration by Trojan horse programs. if you are using just software firewalls you need to purchase one for each PC so here hardware firewalls have a greater advantage because they can protect more than one system at a time and do not affect system performance since they do not run on your system.

what I meant by ‘ports are how hackers break into networks/pc’s reconfiguring them is just a small security measure’ is that admitedly no one changes port numbers but this is just another security that can be taken to protect your systems further. for example changing port numbers on webservers can provide greater security because if the default HTTP port 80 is not used or blocked then a hacker would have to do a little more work to find the open ports. it also provides greater security because you would need to know not only the URL but also the port number to access the site, this method is useful for securing sites intended for specific audiences. obviously an avid hacker can use port scanner and go one step further. i am not saying that changing port numbers is beneficial to the ordinary home user, i am merely saying that this is another step that can be taken to aim to provide maximum protection for your systems. obviously port numbers can be changed using both hardware and software firewalls.

additionally when i said hardware firewall only has one external IP address’ I was referring to NAT. This is an option open to home users with DSL connections because it provides a type of firewall by hiding internal IP addresses.

i hope i have been clearer this time, but hell u can be as rude as you like, it aint like i can report ya

..

techynerdcomputer edit
[This message was edited Sun Sep 7 10:10:17 PDT 2003 by youngsoulrebel]

TwIsTeDmInD said:

Ian is on IOLBB?...cool, we can send files to one another.

iridescence said:

You changed your avatar,

liberation said:

Um, no. That is YOU in the little sign. Let me explain what this does. The program shows the little guy, holding a sign containing YOUR ISp Number, ISP, and OS. it is different for everyone, mine shows MY ISP, and when you see it it shows YOURS. ian sees his own, and no one else sees it.
Get it? It is just a prank system, for techy nerds like me and ian (I just called ian a nerd, pwned.) we know that ISPs can be TRACED to reveal some things you may not want to be revealed, like where you live, and these paranoid people think everyone is seeing there ISP, not just them.
Sorry for the confusion

iridescence said:

Ah. Now you are banned for life!

TwIsTeDmInD said:

I have a hardware firewall on my router, and a firewall in software. Some info can always be seen by others.