"Bart Bailey" wrote in message
...
In posted on Thu, 30 Dec
2004 19:09:25 -0000, Jason Edwards wrote: Begin

Some DSL modems (which use telephone lines) have built in NAT routers but
I've yet to come across a cable (which uses a TV cable) modem that does.

Efficient Networks SpeedStream 5100 here via POTS,
but I don't know if it qualifies as a contained NAT or not.

A quick Google suggests it doesn't but I have not read the manual in detail
so it is possible I missed one or more of its capabilities.


I've heard much talk of the necessity of a stand alone router, laced
with exhagerated comments about the insecurity of an onboard software
firewall, yet I've never been able to find anyone that could
successfully demonstrate this insecurity.

Try setting up unpatched RTM Windows 2000 or Windows XP and see what
happens.
When I last tried it for demonstration reasons it took less than 1 minute
for a worm to spread to the demonstration PC. The PC was then disconnected
and reformatted.

In fact one blowhard once
claimed to be able to "own" any 9x system on the net, but was
predictably unable to back up his spew.

Yeah well I can understand that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish
between spew and facts.


If there exists some sploit for my setup,
I'd sure like to know about it.

If you are fully patched (have all critical or high priority Windows
updates) then if I were you I would not worry.

...and no, not something I have to authorize, like a tooleaky tool,
but a real "stranger on the net" attack.

Attacks by real people are rare as far as the average home user is
concerned. Most 'attacks' come from other compromised Windows PCs. There are
exceptions; such as if you're running unpatched IIS, but you're not doing
that, are you?

Jason


System he
OS: Win98SE
FW: EZ Firewall v4.5.585
Current IP#: 68.124.218.29

good luck

--

Bart