Firewalls For Dummies

What an amazing world we live in! Almost anything you can imagine can be researched, compared, admired, studied, and in many cases, bought, with the click of a mouse. The Internet has changed our lives, putting a world of opportunity before us. Unfortunately, it has also put a world of opportunity into the hands of those whose motives are less than honorable. A firewall, a piece of software or hardware that erects a barrier between your computer and those who might like to invade it, is one solution.

If youve been using the Internet for any length of time, youve probably received some unsavory and unsolicited e-mail. If you run a business, you may be worried about the security of your data and your customers privacy. At home, you want to protect your personal information from identity thieves and other shady characters. Firewalls For Dummies will give you the lowdown on firewalls, then guide you through choosing, installing, and configuring one for your personal or bus iness network.

Firewalls For Dummies helps you understand what firewalls are, how they operate on different types of networks, what they can and cant do, and how to pick a good one (its easier than identifying that perfect melon in the supermarket.) Youll find out about

• Developing security policies
• Establishing rules for simple protocols
• Detecting and responding to system intrusions
• Setting up firewalls for SOHO or personal use
• Creating demilitarized zones
• Using Windows or Linux as a firewall
• Configuring ZoneAlarm, BlackICE, and Norton personal firewalls
• Installing and using ISA server and FireWall-1

With the handy tips and hints this book provides, youll find that firewalls are nothing to fear that is, unless youre a cyber-crook! Youll soon be able to keep your data safer, protect your familys privacy, and probably sleep better, too.

Brian Komar is a native of Canada and makes his living as a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) consultant, speaker, author, and trainer. Brian speaks at conferences around the world on network design and security topics. His consulting practice focuses on PKI design and architecture projects and on research assignments specializing in interoperability between different vendor's security products.

Ronald Beekelaar is a native of The Nethrellands, makes his living as network security consultant, author, and trainer. Ronald frequently trains network administrators on network design and enterprise security topics. He writes articles for several computer magazines, mostly about operating systems and security issues.

Joern Wettern, PhD, is a native of Germany and is a network consultant and trainer. Joern has also developed a range of training materials for a large software publisher, and these materials are used to train thousands of network administrators around the world. He frequently travels to several continents to speak at computer conferences.