Firewalls for Dummies, Second Edition

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 432 pages
• Published by: For Dummies
• Edition: 2nd Edition June 27, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764540483
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764540486
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product Review
With more and more small-office and home computers being left connected to the Internet at all times, the owners of those machines are being faced with problems that used to confront only big operations. The authors of Firewalls for Dummies spread the message: everyone with a cable modem, data satellite dish, or DSL connection requirements a firewall now. Thankfully, though, these guys go beyond merely showing how to set up turnkey personal firewall products--too many Dummies books explain the obvious and the generally intuitive--and reveal how to set up the sorts of firewalls that protect sizable networks. By understanding these techniques, small operators can plan for growth and improve their level of protection. What's more, this book provides a serious explanation of corporate firewall products and techniques that's appropriate for people who build and maintain big systems.

The authors generally steer away from showing how to configure specific firewall products, though a few of the biggies--Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server, BlackICE, ZoneAlarm, and Check Point FireWall-1--get comparative overview coverage. Mostly, they favor more general firewall configuration strategies and techniques. These they explain with a lot of prose, a fair number of conceptual diagrams, and tables that sum up permission rules. This is a worthwhile read. --David Wall

Topics covered: Firewalls and the ways they can be deployed to prevent unauthorized access to computers and networks without interfering with the protected users' ability to get out to the Internet. A summary of networking basics as they apply to firewalls is followed by coverage of network address translation (NAT), demilitarized zones (DMZs) as created by multiple or even single computers, and filtering policies. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
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 you’ve been using the Internet for any length of time, you’ve 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 can’t do, and how to pick a good one (it’s easier than identifying that perfect melon in the supermarket.) You’ll 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, you’ll find that firewalls are nothing to fear – that is, unless you’re a cyber-crook! You’ll soon be able to keep your data safer, protect your family’s privacy, and probably sleep better, too.

Reader Reviews
I picked this up for a curiosity check for some people that are getting interested in the security world. As with the Dummies line, this book is meant as an introduction to the concept of a firewall. If you ever asked "What's a firewall" then this book is for you. If you are looking for specific configurations or what to do when you are under attack, you will not like this book. I gave it high marks because it discusses many concepts such as caching, stateful inspection, load balancing, protocols, etc. However, it does not go heavily into the technical which could make a non-IT person go comatose. There are some discussion of attacks such as Denial of Service, Trojans, etc. but they are rather basic in nature. Again not a book for the advanced. There is a decent discussion on policies and a reasonable discussion on NAT, that should give the inexperienced a good idea of these areas. There are some discussions on deployment which the book might have been trying to reach the corporate environment. However, the value maybe only for managers who would not be involved with the firewall or they simply could have been left out. The book mainly feels for the small networks and the home user and probably would not care about three pronged firewalls. The chapter on Linux firewalls talking about iptables and ipchains felt like it was an addon due to the rise of Linux. Having said that; it still was a decent introduction. It just felt out of place. The chapters on Zonealarm, BlackIce, Norton, ISA, and Checkpoint are useful to a degree. They do discuss the products and they go into setup. However, you will probably read the information parts but probably will end up skipping the configuration sections. The last two chapters are useful as they give you websites for ten tools(though a couple have changed) and sites to find information about Firewalls and security groups. Overall, it's a decent book for the beginner. Avoidable for the professional.