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Why A Firewall

WHY A PERSONAL FIREWALL COULD STOP YOU GETTING BURNT ONLINE

A straightforward guide to how a personal firewall can protect you from hackers

CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER

Today's Internet makes large amounts of information available to the computer user at home and in business. For many, having access to this information is no longer just advantageous it's an essential part of living. Yet connecting a private PC or network to the Internet can expose confidential data to malicious attack from anyone, literally anywhere in the world.

The number of cyber-attacks is officially escalating, with incidents set to double compared to last year, according to the global Internet security watchdog, CERT. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) said that it had recorded nearly 27,000 security incidents in the first quarter of 2002, an indication of things to come, bearing in mind reported incidents for the whole of 2001 totalled about just 55,000.

In February 2002, market researcher BRMB, calculated the number of people in the UK shopping online was almost 20% higher than in the previous 12 months. Those who have bought online in the past six months say the most important factor in their choice of site is security, followed by trust in the company, ease of use and price. More than half say each of these is 'very important'.

Threats to Internet users are set to increase even more with the now inevitable growth in broadband Internet, with home PCs and business networks now more likely to have a permanent connection to the Internet if not right now, certainly in the very near future. However, whilst a fast connection can bring numerous advantages it can present major security issues. So just as home Internet users benefit from the advances in technology, so too do the hackers.

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR BATTLE?

Do you consider yourself security aware? Probably, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this article. And just like most hacker-aware Internet users, it's unlikely that you would consider connecting to the Internet these days without having first installed some sort of anti-virus package. But the damage that can be caused by a virus could be relatively mild compared to the problems caused by people hacking into your system via the Internet.

BUT DO I REALLY NEED A FIREWALL?

Firewall technology can protect both individual computers and corporate networks from hostile intrusion from the Internet. The rapid growth of high-speed PC processors and rapid development languages has enabled companies like HotBrick to develop technology with the ordinary user in mind, from the first step. And unlike many other technology companies, HotBrick does not accept that installing and maintaining security software should require huge amounts of time or technical knowledge.

Like most car drivers today, Internet users want to go somewhere, not spend hours tinkering under the bonnet. But whilst HotBrick doesn't think it necessary to talk endlessly about how exactly personal firewalls work, but they do believe that users of all abilities should appreciate why they need to work and why they should be a standard part of any Internet user's e-armoury.

So if you are using a single stand-alone PC for Internet access, HotBrick Personal Firewall' will help secure the machine if:

You want to keep your confidential files (such online purchases, Banking etc) protected from hackers.
You want to pre-emptively protect yourself from remote access Trojan horses.
You want to properly and safely monitor your Internet connection for intrusion attempts
YOUR PROTECTIVE 'WALL OF CODE'
Essentially a firewall isolates your computer from the Internet using a "wall of code" which interrogates each individual bit or packet of data as it arrives on either side of the firewall to determine whether it should be allowed to pass or be blocked. All Internet communication is achieved by the exchange of small packets of data. Most people refer to connections between computers ? this connection is actually comprised of individual packets moving between two or more machines. Essentially, machines acknowledge each other by sending data to each other. And in order to arrive successfully, whether it's a machine six feet or a thousand miles away, every data packet must include a destination address and port number as well as its own IP address and a port number. This kind of detail helps the receiving computer know who is trying to connect.

But for a hacker it's precisely this kind of detail which represents a way of 'getting in', especially as IP addresses can identify a single machine on the Internet and information about an actual port can be associated with a particular activity. A hacker will try to grab these details and masquerade as a legitimate computer, before reeking havoc from within your machine.

HotBrick'S SOLUTION

HotBrick Personal Firewall inspects each and every packet of data as it arrives at your computer. Before an attacker can open communications with your computer, they need to establish a connection, and HotBrick Personal Firewall simply refuses any connections that try to open from outside your computer. After all, you use your computer to use services on the Internet, not the other way round. Why should anyone need to speak to your computer?

But of course it's not just about people trying to get in, it's you wanting to go out across the Web. Just because you block people getting in doesn't mean you want to block yourself getting out.

Every message sent across the Internet contains information on where the message came from, where it is going to, what type of conversation it is, and which conversation it is a part of. HotBrick Personal Firewall can use this information to determine whether each message is a new connection coming in, a new connection going out, or an old connection that has already been opened. While all new connections trying to come into the computer are stopped, connections that you want to send are let out, and any replies to your messages are let back in.

This is all taken care of in a straightforward way, optimised for the home PC user, summarised below:

HotBrick Personal Firewall has been designed to be one of the most user-friendly personal firewalls available. The installation software lets you choose how you will use your computer and then, in most cases, the software will never need to be reconfigured again.
HotBrick Personal Firewall logs attacks and connection attempts against your system grouped by the source and graded by severity. The easy to use colour-coding allows you to see, at a glance, whether it is likely that someone has been trying to launch an attack against you.
HotBrick Personal Firewall provides an optional alert system for advanced users to inform you of every attack or probe launched against your system in real-time, if required. You can instantly see when someone is attempting to break into your system or when any other connection attempt is made.
HotBrick Personal Firewall makes your PC invisible to many scans hackers commonly use, so that they move onto to easier prey!
THE FUTURE

With nearly Millions of new Internet users coming online each year, it is inevitable that increased crime will continue to follow the legitimate activities of the vast majority of Internet users. Whilst technology companies have every right to make a living out of the malicious activities of others, they should retain a responsibility to provide solutions which are both cost-effective and straight-forward for users of all abilities to use. For the HotBrick development team it means, keeping things simple, strong and reasonably priced.

One of HotBrick's technology visions is that all PC and Internet Service Provider companies will one day include a straightforward yet high strength bundled personal firewall as standard. But today, firewalls need to be added where needed ? which is more or less everywhere.

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