Chapter 13. Securing Your Home Network

The home network, in which computers in different rooms of your house communicate and share the same network, has become a reality. Several years ago, if you asked most people about their home network, you would probably have gotten a blank stare in return. With the advancement of technology and the ease of use of technologies such as e-mail (ask almost anyone for an e-mail address these days and you will see that he has one), broadband connections, and wireless devices, you have the ability to quickly comprehend how technology can benefit your life. The learning curve is not steep for these tools that the corporate machine gives us every other day. Home networking is probably one of the more complex ideas, but it is still easy enough to implement.

If you don't have a home network, perhaps by the end of this chapter you will see the benefits and ease of installation of home networking. However, as we have mentioned throughout the book, with every new technology out there, the potential for attackers to gain access to your personal information and invade your life is real. The same holds true for your home network. What you must know to connect to the Internet securely are the tools and techniques that corporations use on a daily basis to protect their own vast networks. Although you do not have the millions of dollars that companies have to implement network security tools, you can do many free and inexpensive things to protect your own vast network.

To get you operational, we will go through some of the basic concepts related to networking. You should have a basic understanding of what the terms are and why you will be implementing what we discuss. After we have laid out how your home network will operate, we will go through the steps you need to take to protect your entire network. With more computers connected to the Internet, your potential points of attack increase. We touched briefly on networks when discussing firewalls in Chapter 10, “Understanding Your PC Operating System and Its Security Features.” In this chapter, we will go into detail on how firewalls work in a networked environment and how you can test their effectiveness.

The growth of high-speed Internet access coupled with the spread of Windows-based home computers has made the need for security more real than ever. Because of this, Microsoft is working to address the inherent insecurities of its operating systems. In the past, Microsoft's answer has been to educate the public through its Web site and provide patches whenever a new OS or application vulnerability was discovered. This approach has proved futile, however, considering the wake of recent Internet worms and past Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. With public concern growing, Microsoft has responded by saying it will make future default installations more secure than past ones. Regardless of who is promising security, it is important to realize that no one solution will solve all of these problems. In the end, it is up to each of us to take the steps necessary to secure our own systems, part of which includes protecting our home networks from Internet attacks with the use of firewalls.