Personal Firewalls for Administrators and Remote Users

Personal Firewalls for Administrators and Remote Users
| 1969-12-31 00:00:00 | | 0 | Network Security


While corporate system administrators spend lots of time thinking about enterprise firewall systems for their in-house employees, a vulnerability that is often overlooked is the remote employee's unprotected computer system, the unprotected computers of mobile laptop users (employees on the road) and all those unprotected but networked handheld devices. At the same time, many home computer users who have always relied on high speed Internet access don't realize that without a personal firewall, they too are quite vulnerable to intrusion and attacks. This book is designed to explain how personal firewalls work and how to determine which type of firewall works best in a given situation. Yeo starts with an intro to security basics -basic data protection measures (passwords, virus software, encryption, and firewalls) and reviews common vulnerabilities and issues with the always-on Internet. Yeo then explains protection methods used by firewalls in general - proxy server firewalls, packet filters, signature-based firewalls and stateful inspection-based firewalls while examining strengths and weaknesses of each type. She then explains how each type of protection method is implemented in a `personal` firewall, the various products including Black Ice Defender, Zone Alarm, Linux iptables that use a given firewall method, and the pros and cons of relying on this method in a personal firewall. An entire chapter is devoted to maintenance of personal firewalls.

User review
Learn some effective paranoia
If you are using a local machine and are not currently using a personal firewall, then this is a book you must read. Furthermore, if you believe your security worries are over because you are running a firewall, then you also must read this book.
The role of firewalls in computer security is only one of the topics covered. Other points are the limitations of firewalls, some of the tactics used by hackers to break into systems and how some of the features of firewalls are implemented. These topics are critical to the effective use of a firewall in the securing of a personal system. Like most other instances of complex technology, it is necessary to understand some of the inner workings of firewalls if you are to use them efficiently. Also, this will help you understand the security holes that they do not cover, or may not cover if improperly configured. In many ways, this is the most important information found in the book.
In computer security, a false sense of security is the worst position to be in. To have any valid sense of security, you must also be paranoid, trusting no one and no thing until proven otherwise. After reading this book, you will still be paranoid, even after installing a firewall. However, at least now you will know many of the things that you should be paranoid about.

User review
Perfect for the small office owner wondering about firewalls
What a fascinating idea, a book about personal firewalls. The book tries to do a review TCP, the principles of information security and what firewalls are and by trying to cover too much fails to meet the promise of its title. It doesn't cover personal firewalls in any depth, but it does have an important purpose. There are a number of small business and home office owners that simply do not understand the importance of a firewall or a personal firewall. The language in the book is clear, friendly and approachable. The work is designed to be understood and is a quick read, which is important for a small business owner that will only invest so much time learning about firewalls and security. I learned about a firewall I had never heard of, Kerio, but the book doesn't cover Tiny, one of the most important personal firewalls. For someone in information security already, this is probably two stars, but for someone with a small office wondering what a firewall is and if they need one, I would be very comfortable recommending this book. Lisa Yeo has the potential to be a great writer, she seems to have a knack for covering a topic with just the number of words needed. I would encourage her to try again, personal firewalls is a topic that needs to be covered, but next time do it with a strong technical review team.

The book layout is one of the better jobs I have seen, the font is easy on the eyes and large enough to actually read. They do a fascinating trick where code examples and notes are allowed to extend further into the left margin than the text of the book. This serves to break up the text and draws your attention to the figures, code examples and notes.