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Will firewalls stop hackers?


Sugarpops

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Just recently came into the wide wide world of ftp. Found a neat freeware app on cnet, peerftp, that lets whoever I send an address to, view & download the files or folders of my choice from my computer. I've already used it to share some music and videos with friends. This is probably old news to most of you but this was the greatest invention to me since Viagra. I'll probably buy the pro version which in the description said something about using random multiple ports, but the freeware version I'm using now lets you assign a different (or same) port # for each address. I'd like to share some files with friends in newsgroups and forums that I'm in, but am hesitant. Question: If I post one of these file or folder addresses over the internet, is it safe or am I just asking someone to come in and chop up my computer. I've got 3 computers on a Lynksys router with a firewall and have Zone Alarm 4 on each computer.

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I'm assuming you read how to do the firewall configuration from PeerFTP's web site F.A.Q.?

I use a shared LinkSys or similar router to access the internet. How do I set up PeerFTP?    A router or firewall protects you so that the outside world of the internet cannot see your individual computers and you can share a single internet connection.    Your Internet Service Provider assigns an IP address to your router that all of your network computers share. PeerFTP cannot detect this shared router address and reports only your local IP address within the network (usually 192.xxx.xx.xxx). Check your router documentation for how to determine the shared 'public' IP address.    In PeerFTP select the "Configure" menu and "IP Override". Select "Manually Set Shared Router IP" and enter the IP obtained from your router.    Then check your router documentation to determine how to specify which machine it should direct any FTP Traffic to.    Resend any email invitations.    Finally if your friend still can't connect have them check under the tools menu in Internet Explorer and select the "Advanced" Tab. Under "Browser Settings" ensure that "Use Passive FTP (for firewall and DSL modem compatibility)" is selected.    If you do not have access to router configuration check with your network administrator.
As long as the software doesn't allow the user to move out of the shared directory, you will be fine behind the firewall. The real question is do you know what sort of security vulnerabilities this application has?
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Ragnar Paulson

Peachy's got it right. The firewall's primary job is to stop access from the Internet to services you have running on your network, and possibly inadvertantly, services running on your expose network device (in case of home users, your workstation).It's secondary job is to stop users on your network from getting out to the internet to services/places you don't want them to go. In the minimum it will log them.However, once you've chosen to expose a service (i.e ftp) the firewall can't do anything, it's not omniscient and has little to no knowledge of applications like ftp. It can't tell the difference between a benign ftp download and a hack attempt. That's the job of the application/service you are running. So you have to go and delve through the archives at cert.org and mitre.org and see if there are any announcement for peerftp, what versions were affected, and ensure you have the patches. Ragnar

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SonicDragon

Letting people view and download files on your computer is probably not very safe no matter what program your using. I have never used that program, so i don't really know how it works and such, but i don't think i firewall will do much. It sounds to me like your giving them permission to access your computer. In that case, the firewall will think of it as ok and allowed. (Correct me if i'm wrong on that, i'm just sort of speculating because i've never seen or used the program before.)But, that's not saying that you should get rid of the fire wall. Certainly keep it there. Every little bit helps when it comes to security. But, as you've probably already heard, if a serious hacker/cracker really wants to get into your system and is determined, he will, no matter what kind of security you have on it. But, you should still put firewalls and such on because it makes it harder for the hacker and hopefully he will get bored and move on to an easyer target.It's like, if a robber wants to get into your house, he will, but you should still lock your doors. ;)

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