Question

FIRE WALL FOR A HOME/OFFICE WIRED/WIRELESS NETWORK

Asked by: carlmccut

I have recently set up a wired/wireless network for my home/business. I live above one of our family businesses and needed to access files on the business computer. I am using the following equipment:
HP pavilion with XP home (Linksys WMP54G wireless pci card)
Micron pc with win 98se ( wired to the router)
Linksys WRT54g wireless broadband router w/4port switch
Motorola cable modem

I selected the BB router so that both systems could access the internet and also be able to network.
Everything set up fine but when I enable the firewall on the router the systems cannot see each other. I do have zone alarm pro on the win98 system (not running). XP firewall disabled. What would the best solution to create a safe environment for file sharing with out worrying about intruders. I have read somewhere on this site that it is possible to designate "trusted"   range of  IP addresses. Is this a viable solution or is there something better instead of shutting everything down? The system is set up for file and print sharing from both computers.

CSIGMA

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Asked On
2004-02-11 at 00:58:51ID20880758
Topic

Network Software Firewalls

Participating Experts
3
Points
180
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: ekurversPosted on 2004-02-11 at 07:31:04ID: 10332995

When you are using a domain controller as a server there is an option to choose the authentication system of Windows as your security. Enabling this will let everyone that has authorization to use your system download a certificate and ask for the username and password.

The mechanism we're using is called EAP-TLS (Extendable Authentication Protocol - Transport Layer Security). This enables you to authenticate users and grant them access. In Windows XP you don't need additional software. It might be necessary to install software on the win98 machine.

At my school they're using this mechanism to protect the school network and it's a very good protection.

Unfortunately I'm unable to tell you how to activate it, but maybe you can find more information on this subject.

 

by: carlmccutPosted on 2004-02-11 at 08:05:20ID: 10333397

Is this on the xp program disk?

 

by: KurversPosted on 2004-02-11 at 10:21:37ID: 10334772

This should be installed under WinXP, after you installed the Wireless Card.

For installing on Windows 98, you have to refer to the card manufacturer, I presume, or you will have to look at possible router settings, perhaps it's in there.

Again I'm unfortunately unable to tell you where to find it exactly, because I do not have the correct equipment for it myself.

 

by: judhiPosted on 2004-02-12 at 19:38:54ID: 10349450

In a good network security practice, you need more than just authentication (which you want to achieve by limiting the range of IP address) but you also need encryption to avoid 'sniffing' on the traffic. To some extend you even need to do 'accounting' to keep track who was doing what and when.

Range of IP is not a good idea for authentication since anybody can assign the IP freely for themselves.
Somebody could have managed to know (or guess) your IP and set his/her own PC with that IP then just wait until you turn off your computer and s/he will be in business!

A fairly good encryption can be achieved by running 128 WEP key on your AP and WLAN card.
Change the key periodically or anytime when you feel you need to.

There are many ways to make your environment safe, but the challenge here is to make the spending is justifiable with your business risk and profit. Tell me how much roughly your budget, then I should be able to help you more to find out the solution.

Regards,
Judhi

 

by: carlmccutPosted on 2004-02-21 at 07:44:29ID: 10420558

Sorry for the slow response extremely busy. Our budget is aprox. 285k per year we are a fairly small family run business. There is a change I have run cables instead of wireless networking. We now have everything hard wired through a broad band router. Could I use a software based firewall on each system just allowing attached network computers to access? Will keep an eye on responses.

 

by: carlmccutPosted on 2004-02-21 at 07:45:45ID: 10420562

Ohe yes everything is password protected. My only concern is that the router is used for internet access also.

 

by: carlmccutPosted on 2004-02-25 at 11:14:17ID: 10453244

I contacted several local it folks and they agreed for what I am doing this would be sufficient.

Thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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