Firewalls for Dummies, Second Edition

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 fundamentals 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.

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.

The best chapter in the book, if there is one, talks about configuring Black Ice (my "personal" firewall of choice) and Zone Alarm. But I already knew how to do that, as Black Ice is very easy to install and set up.

If you are a commercial fire wall specialist, most of this material will be redundant to you. And if you are just a home user, then you will not understand much of it, as it is geared towards commercial fire wall installations, and all the heavy jargon that goes with that.

Fire wall technology, like virus technolgy, can only be learned on the job with those company experts like Black Ice or Norton. They are just not going to make this stuff easy for anyone, and no book learning is going to give you much of a clue here, including this book.

Sorry, that's just the way it is. You want to learn all about fire walls? Then go to work for Zone Alarm or Black Ice.