Firewalls for Dummies, Second Edition [Paperback]

Brian Komar (Author), Ronald Beekelaar (Author), Joern Wettern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0764540483 | ISBN-13: 978-0764540486 | Edition: 2

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With more and more small-office and home computers being left connected to the Internet at all times, the owners of those machines are being faced with problems that used to confront only big operations. The authors of Firewalls for Dummies spread the message: everyone with a cable modem, data satellite dish, or DSL connection needs a firewall now. Thankfully, though, these guys go beyond merely showing how to set up turnkey personal firewall products--too many Dummies books explain the obvious and the generally intuitive--and reveal how to set up the sorts of firewalls that protect sizable networks. By understanding these techniques, small operators can plan for growth and improve their level of protection. What's more, this book provides a serious explanation of corporate firewall products and techniques that's appropriate for people who build and maintain big systems.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Guard your DSL and protect your personal information

Keep your network safe from viruses, saboteurs, eavesdroppers, and other bad guys

We don’t want to scare you, but "they" are out there! Don’t venture into lawless cyberspace without this trusty guide. It’ll help you evaluate the danger, understand how firewalls work, control what goes in or out, and choose the right firewall product for your home or business. You’re bound to sleep better!

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 edition (June 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764540483
• ISBN-13: 978-0764540486
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #595,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview with lots of details, October 23, 2001

By 

"lmcmc" (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firewalls for Dummies (Paperback)

I don't really like the Dummies title, but I have found that Dummies books are very often written for people like me, who don't consider themselves Dummies at all. I was hoping that this one would be an easy-to-read introduction to firewalls that also provided some useful information. I was not disappointed.
Like other Dummies books, this one is very easy to approach, but it went far beyond that. I started reading this book because I wanted to get a good basic background in what firewalls are. The first few chapters did accomplish this. They also got me to think about quite a few computer security issues I had not even considered before. I especially liked that it helped me with setting up a personal firewall. At the same tiem I know that I can get back to the chapters on other, more powerful firewalls in the future. What surprised me about this book was the level of detail it went into in the chapters on how to configure a firewall for complex scenarios, such as VPN solutions. I actually also learned a lot about other, related computer security issues. Right now I don't need all of this information, but it is good to have a book that has information that I will fins useful in the months or even years to come. Many Dummies books are very approachable, and this one os no exception. However, I found that this one didn't stop at the basics. Rather, it went into topics should be useful even for someone who has to set up and configure a firewall in a medium-sized organization.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, Economical, and Accesible Information on Firewalls, October 23, 2001

By 

Martin Grasdal (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firewalls for Dummies (Paperback)

The authors and the technical editor of this book have done a superb job of making the complex subject of firewalls accessible to a wide audience. Regardless of your level of experience, you will be able to take something of value away from this book, whether it is a basic understanding of firewalls or some deeper insights into the complexities of NAT, IPSec, VPNs, and Kerberos. From setting up a personal firewall, such as Zone Alarm, to setting up multiple industrial-strength firewalls involvings DMZs, you will find a lot of good information and advice.

The authors show a concern for crafting clear, economical, and easy-to-understand explanations of otherwise difficult concepts. Their experience as consultants and educators is obvious. You could buy more expensive and abstruse books on firewalls, but you probably won't enjoy them as much and you probably won't get as much out of them. The authors have done a great job.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A decent introduction., December 5, 2007

By 

Mathew A. Shember (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Firewalls for Dummies, Second Edition (Paperback)

I picked this up for a curiosity check for some people that are getting interested in the security world.

As with the Dummies line, this book is meant as an introduction to the concept of a firewall.

If you ever asked "What's a firewall" then this book is for you. If you are looking for specific configurations or what to do when you are under attack, you will not like this book.

I gave it high marks because it discusses many concepts such as caching, stateful inspection, load balancing, protocols, etc. However, it does not go heavily into the technical which could make a non-IT person go comatose.

There are some discussion of attacks such as Denial of Service, Trojans, etc. but they are rather basic in nature. Again not a book for the advanced.

There is a decent discussion on policies and a reasonable discussion on NAT, that should give the inexperienced a good idea of these areas.

There are some discussions on deployment which the book might have been trying to reach the corporate environment. However, the value maybe only for managers who would not be involved with the firewall or they simply could have been left out. The book mainly feels for the small networks and the home user and probably would not care about three pronged firewalls.

The chapter on Linux firewalls talking about iptables and ipchains felt like it was an addon due to the rise of Linux. Having said that; it still was a decent introduction. It just felt out of place.

The chapters on Zonealarm, BlackIce, Norton, ISA, and Checkpoint are useful to a degree. They do discuss the products and they go into setup. However, you will probably read the information parts but probably will end up skipping the configuration sections.

The last two chapters are useful as they give you websites for 10 tools(though a couple have changed) and sites to find information about Firewalls and security groups.

Overall, it's a decent book for the beginner. Avoidable for the professional.