Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:23:54 -0400 From: "Marius M. Rex" <marius@mail.communityconnect.com> To: kiffin@gish.demon.nl Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Firewall or not ... Message-ID: <1127334234.66149.69.camel@Daath.hq.communityconnect.com> In-Reply-To: <20050921192016.2a961324.lists@yazzy.org> References: <4331AF00.2010900@gish.demon.nl> <20050921192016.2a961324.lists@yazzy.org>
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On Wed, 2005-09-21 at 19:20 +0000, Marcin Jessa wrote: > On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:05:36 +0200 > Kiffin Gish <kiffin@gish.demon.nl> wrote: > > > I have installed FreeBSD 5.4 on my Dell Inspiron 8200 using WiFi to > > access the Internet. > > > > My question is what are the pros and cons of running a firewall on my > > client, e.g. is it really necessary. > > > > I mean it's not like I am running Windows and have to bloat it with all > > McAfee, Zonealarm ad infinitum -- or do I? > > > > Thanks alot in advance. > I have a firewall set up on my laptop, as it is company policy. FreeBSD makes it fairly simple to set up and use with the options in /etc/rc.conf, and I rarely have any need to tweak it. I have a fairly lightly modified "CLIENT" type firewall. DHCP is an issue, but a quick script at boot can be used to grab the dynamic IP without too much trouble. Otherwise I really do not have performance issues, connectivity problems, etc, that are worth mentioning. I like to keep a decent eye on security, but to my knowledge I have never run into an occasion where someone has tried to hack me into my laptop through wireless or wired, in a way that would work. I have certainly seen attempted MS-Windows hacks, etc. But nothing that would actually effect FreeBSD. I keep the system fairly up to date, and rarely have any problems with security. (The problems I have had, a firewall would not fix anyway.) I highly suspect that I could stop using the firewall all together and it would not make that much of a difference. So do you need a firewall? Probably not. But since it is really not that hard to set up and manage on FreeBSD, I would advise anyone to use one if they can. -- Marius M. Rex Sr. System Admin. Community Connect Inc. marius@communityconnect.com
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