BEFSR81 as a firewall?

[Tekime]

Hi all,

An acquantance needs some help with securing their small network. It's a small business with about 20 computers. Right now they have cable running into a Linksys BEFSR81 Cable/DSL router and EZXS88W switch.

From what I've read this router serves as a basic firewall, but it is not a complete firewall solution. Is it insecure, and can you elaborate on why?

I was thinking about installing a Smoothwall box between the cable and router as a dedicated firewall, would this really improve security quite a bit or would it introduce more maintenence/overhead than is necessary for a small network like this? Obviously Smoothwall should pretty much take care of itself over time, but there are costs involved in hardware and installation. Budget is of course a major concern for a small growing business.

Many thanks to anyone who can shed a bit more light on the subject

a hardware router only will block the incoming information. the reason why alot of people run zone alarm on each machines is so that they will cover the outgoing information from the interenet. using programs like za gives you more control over which programs have access to the internet and what is being sent out.


Jason

[Bill in SD, CA]

You can run ShieldsUP! to test your incoming security.

GZ is right on with ZA. It's interesting and important to know what's going out as well.

Bill