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Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 14:15:00 -0500
From: Paul Schmehl <pauls@utdallas.edu>
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
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Subject: Re: Firewall or not ...
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--On Wednesday, September 21, 2005 21:05:36 +0200 Kiffin Gish 
<kiffin@gish.demon.nl> wrote:

> I have installed FreeBSD 5.4 on my Dell Inspiron 8200 using WiFi to
> access the Internet.
>
> My question is what are the pros and cons of running a firewall on my
> client, e.g. is it really necessary.
>
> I mean it's not like I am running Windows and have to bloat it with all
> McAfee, Zonealarm ad infinitum -- or do I?
>
That depends entirely on how you've set the box up.  If you have services 
running that are binding to internet-addressable ports, then you *may* want 
to firewall them off to minimize attack possibilities.  E.g. you're running 
ssh - so you restrict access to it through the firewall config to a limited 
number of allowed external hosts.

Paul Schmehl (pauls@utdallas.edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/