Re: Newie questions about security

[Paul Johnson <baloo@ursine.ca>]

Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 01:21:46PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote:
>> 
>> Firestarter and other Linux based firewalls are when you want to build a
>> firewall for your network.  You cannot build a firewall for just the
>> computer you want to firewall:  Firewalls, by nature, must be on
>> dedicated
>> hardware to work.  Thus, ZoneAlarm, Kerio, BlackICE, Windows Firewall,
>> etc, are guilty of false advertising at best, and gross misrepresentation
>> at worst.
> 
> This is false.  You can filter packets to/from *any* interface on any
> machine.  That is what makes a firewall.  Now, the physical distinction
> may be blurred, but the logical distinction is still there.

I meant more in general.  In Linux, while what I said doesn't apply, it's
still bad practice to expect your firewall to do more than firewall.  In
Windows (and probably other operating systems), there is no such logical
distinction made.