Firewall Protection

Yo famo:

Need to implement some security for my LAN project for school. What do you recommend to make the network more secure? I'm running a basic 10BaseT Ethernet

ummmm 10/100/1000 network doesn't matter.

Do you wish to use a standalone device ?
or a
Linux/Unix PC with 2 network cards ?

If you wanna use an old junky pc (800 Mhz and higher) with two network cards ....
http://www.smoothwall.org

Linux Distribution specifically for use as a firewall.
Takes up about 200 MB just for the OS ... the rest of the space is used for log files.

simply seth wrote:

ummmm 10/100/1000 network doesn't matter.

Do you wish to use a standalone device ?
or a
Linux/Unix PC with 2 network cards ?

If you wanna use an old junky pc (800 Mhz and higher) with two network cards ....
http://www.smoothwall.org

Linux Distribution specifically for use as a firewall.
Takes up about 200 MB just for the OS ... the rest of the space is used for log files.

We're not using Linux. Sorry for my ignorance...

I repent in sackcloth and ashes.

then you might wanna get one of those off the shelf firewall router dealies

It would be more economical to just grab an old pc , two network cards and slap smoothwall on there

simply seth wrote:

then you might wanna get one of those off the shelf firewall router dealies

It would be more economical to just grab an old pc , two network cards and slap smoothwall on there

Any suggestions for one of those firewall router dealies???

Linksys and Netgear are the most common.
Whichever you can find.

All depends if you need VPN or not
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=529&name=Firewalls

I really wouldn't know the difference.

I think one feature you'll need is Network Address Translation (NAT)
It bascially masks the address of the internal network machines and makes it look to the outside world that its that one router device making all these internet requests.

Most router/firewall/gateway dealies have NAT.

simply seth wrote:

Linksys and Netgear are the most common.
Whichever you can find.

All depends if you need VPN or not
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=529&name=Firewalls

I really wouldn't know the difference.

VPN = Virtual Private Network..... your going to use the internet to communicate, but it's a private network.... all data is locked off from the public....business and military applications for it, but not for a school setting....

and Netgear is good, but I'd go with Linksys, that's the brand I know.... don't go D-Link,I've had two physically die on me, but my Linksys chugs away....... (Death by electric surges during storms when I wasn't home to unplug them, Linksys has lived though several storms)......

but I'd use a firewall machine, I'd get a linux box to act as a honey pot(look into it, it's hard to explain), and run blockers on the systems....(you know, the big three, porn, spam, virus).....also maybe a software firewall such as PG2(Peer Guardian 2) on the student systems..... depends on how much time you have, if you have Norton Ghost, if yours is the only class or the only os on the machines..... and I'd also consider installing spyware blockers (Spybot or the other one).... like I said, depends on how security conscious you need your setup to be......

Expo wrote:

Yo famo:

Need to implement some security for my LAN project for school. What do you recommend to make the network more secure? I'm running a basic 10BaseT Ethernet

if you don't want to implement the above suggestions, there is an easier one.... unplug the internet.... didn't say it was practical but it is easy, and cheep.....