Thread: Internet Security / Antivirus

Originally Posted by catch-22

Telstra and Optus provide 'bridges' only so all of the security rests on the machine.

Caine

In easily over 2000 Telstra and Optus ADSL connections I've done using the Telstra supplied Alcatel, SpeedStream and Optus with D-Link units. I've never seen or done them in Bridge mode and neither Telstra nor Optus recommend using their supplied devices in this mode. If customers do their own connection and use the Telstra supplied CD it won't even allow bridge mode.

Best regards
DarrenR

wow over 2000 - can't argue there. NAT does not negate the need to protect the machine above and beyond AV/spy/spam and a local firewall. In fact a firewall sitting in front of the machine, no, two firewalls sitting in front of the machine does not negate the need to protect locally. However, I am coming at the issue from a corporate perspective.

Good AV, stopping as much as possible working the wire and disabling all unused services is enough to fend off 'most' attacks/vulnerabilities.

There is a reason Vista comes out of the box with most services disabled and all admin functions need to be authenticated prior to execution. All hardending guides will always tell you to stop unused services - well all the ones I have read anyway

Sure your right, NAT really isn't a firewall in the true sense of the meaning but it does suffice on a home user level quite well and is probably the best protection combined with a good AV and Anti-mal/spyware and as I already mentioned use the Windows firewall if you wish to control outbound traffic to a better degree.

Having services such as Messenger (for the sake of others, this should not be confused with MSN Messenger) and having NB bound behind a typical consumer level ADSL modem/router isn’t going to affect security in any great degree. But yeah sure, do it all the same, while they are at it, stop/disable UPNP.

Keep in mind though on a corporate level the issues are different, one of the biggest threats a network administrator face are the users within the local LAN/WAN. Locking down local workstations with group policies, disabling non-essential services, limiting user access, managed AV, network monitoring and one or more dedicated firewall appliances are typical on a corporate level.

Best regards
DarrenR

Originally Posted by DarrenR

Keep in mind though on a corporate level the issues are different, one of the biggest threats a network administrator face are the users within the local LAN/WAN. Locking down local workstations with group policies, disabling non-essential services, limiting user access, managed AV, network monitoring and one or more dedicated firewall appliances are typical on a corporate level.DarrenR

Yep - welcome to my life

Originally Posted by catch-22

Yep - welcome to my life

I spent many years in the corporate sector forever fighting with unqualified whinging users that seemed to try their level best to screw systems up, then having IT management that had less qualifications than the IT techs doing the actual work forever trying to screw costs down. I moved out of the corporate sector, now my only contact I have is as a third party contractor, I do the job, I get to use the "sorry, I'm a contractor, you will have to ask your IT department" line all the time, I get paid and I walk away happy at the end of the day.

Best regards
DarrenR

The best protection is to create an account with "user" only privlidges. I had a heap of grief with 4 kids at home all using PC's plus the Mrs. In the end a workgroup wouldnt cut it so I built a domain. I use a P3 1Ghz machine as a PDC which does my authentication, DHCP and DNS. I set the kids up as users only with no admin rights on the desktop

I run a File server also which has raid 1 and all my documents are redirected to that for DR. I run trend on all the desktops which is excellent for blocking certain site groups, highly recomend if u have teenages. I also use keyword blocking on the router.(modem running bridge mode)

I run group policy on the Domain also to remove certain icons from the kids and lockdown specific things on the desktops. Takes a while to come to a happy medium where you still get functionalty and they dont feel restricted.

Downside: Some apps and games dont like user only privlidges but that can be fixed by given rights to certain folders. It's worked great for 2 years