Tip #4530 - Firewall Warnings
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Firewall
Warnings
A reader asks:
The other day, I received a port scan attack notice from
my personal firewall. How do I prevent them from coming in at all?
Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you!
This is a very
good question! I'm sure many of you out there have received a warning
like that from your firewall software at one time or another. Those
warnings usually say that someone is attempting an attack on your
computer. It will then give you the IP address of the attacker and
also what kind of an attack it is.
Believe it or
not, that is a good thing! Think of it this way: if you didn't have
your firewall software, you wouldn't even know the attack was happening.
Someone could be attacking your system and you would get no warning
at all. Your computer would just eventually crash, due to the overwhelming
data coming into your system. But, because of the firewall software,
the attack was detected and blocked before any damage was done. That
is the main reason why you should have a firewall on your computer.
Now, I'm sure
some of you are thinking, “How do I stop these attacks from
getting to my computer?” That's another great question! Unfortunately,
there's really no way to stop the attacks from coming in. Usually,
the attacks are completely random and they simply target your IP address.
On the other hand,
there is a way to stop most of them from doing any harm. That can
be done by putting up an additional line of defense between your connection
and your computer. That wall is called a router. If you install a
router on your connection, the router will be attacked instead of
your computer. The router will then simply reject the attack and it
will never get into your system.
So, the next time
your firewall software warns you of an attack, you can breathe a sigh
of relief, because you are protected. Doesn't that feel good? Until
next time, stay safe out there, my friends!
~ Gary
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