Re Norton firewall / WPA

As I have WPA encryption enabled on my wireless router do I need to keep
Norton firewall on or am I fairly safe without it?

Many thanks
Nigel

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:48:06 GMT, "hawklord"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>As I have WPA encryption enabled on my wireless router do I need to keep
>Norton firewall on or am I fairly safe without it?

WPA encryption is about as safe as you can get for preventing attacks
via wireless and preventing wireless sniffing. However, it will do
absolutely nothing to prevent attacks via the internet, or the usual
accidentally downloaded trojan horse, worms, viruses, and assorted
exploits. That's where Norton Firewall helps. Your first line of
defense is your NAT firewall/router. However, if that's deemed
insufficient, a "personal firewall" such as Norton Firewall can be
added to the obstacle course.

Think of the wireless link as just providing a replacement for a cable
between your router and your PC. If the wireless were replaced by an
ethernet cable, would you still be safe? You decide.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

hawklord wrote:

> As I have WPA encryption enabled on my wireless router do I need to keep
> Norton firewall on or am I fairly safe without it?
>

WPA is not machine level protection like a PFW solution is and WPA only
encrypts traffic between the card and the router and prevents eavedropping
of the traffic. That's the only protection WPA provides.

A PFW solution is not a FW it doesn't separate two networks. It's only
machine level protection that protects the O/S, services and Internet
programs/applications from attack when the machine is directly connected to
the Internet or the machine is setting in a LAN environment.

The wireless NAT router doesn't have a FW either and at best it may have
some FW like features like SPI and some other stuff. But a NAT router
running SPI doesn't make the router an appliance that running a FW.
However, the NAT router is good enough in the home protection by not
forwarding unsolicited inbound requests to the machines as long as the user
is not doing high risks things like port forwarding.

Duane