Any network engineer/security folks?


Status
Not open for further replies.

DennisLee

New Member
Jan 6, 2004
72
0
0
Sinagpore
Hi, need some expert help on network and security issue. Hope some of you engineers here can enlighten.

Some one is trying to sell this product to me. http://www.alphashield.com/ What it does it basically hides the ip address of your lan from the public. Is this product really useful?

Suppose u r a hacker, and have bad intention, and without the protection of the alpha-shield, how do you find out my ip address and what can you do to my system after u know my ip address?

Isn't software protection a better deal?

Thanks for u your help!

Dennis
 

Hv nv tried to use this product....
I believe it is a firewall product doing NAT, etc.....
Basically nowadays the broadband routers sold hv some form of firewall, NAT functions...... If u hv such products, then I dun see how this alphashield can benefit you.. :)
 

Looks like it works by blocking ALL traffic not initiated by you. So you wont be able to use icq/msn chat or connect to the computer using VNC/PCanywhere.
 

it has the same functions as a firewall.

however, S/W-based firewalls r slightly diffcult to configure as u'll need to know some basic theory in order to know what r u doing.

once some1 knows knows yr ip, they can do a scan of yr ports to c if they r "open".

if they r "open", they can "enter" into yr systems n create havoc.

:)
 

Thanks guys for your advise :)

Suppose you are hosting a server for external, with alphashield, can the outside users still be able to locate the server?
 

Looks like a router/firewall doing NAT. It probably does not do IP masking, it just assumes the Telco assigned IP and firewalls out the rest of the ports, you probably should also be able to configure passthru ports and internal IPs if you want to handle requests of whatever sort over the internet.
 

ugh... this is an expensive piece of crap. if you want to protect an ethernet network, check out netscreen or cisco's firewall products, if you're looking for an ADSL router/firewall that has features like default server get an Alcatel Speedtouch. when they say they hide your ports, they're doing NAT, which you can do on a dinky little linux box. and generally software solutions aren't the best bet.
 

Dont exactly know this alphashield works.. I do not think it works by blocking ports, but by a stateful insepction of packets. Meaning a tcp connection has to be initiated from the inside (HTTP, FTP, msn protocol, icq protocol). If using icq, im not sure if you friend can talk to you first... i think you have to open a connection to him by messaging him first then the alphashield will maintain this tcp connection and thus allow your friend to msg you..

you have to ask your friend more about whether you can host a server with this thing..becasue it doesnt seem to have a configurable NAT or a configurable port rule.

It is excellent for home use I reckon, at least it is better than a software firewall and you dun have to configure much crap. Plug and play! :D

Hope it helps.
 

DennisLee said:
Thanks guys for your advise :)

Suppose you are hosting a server for external, with alphashield, can the outside users still be able to locate the server?

No, even if they know your ip they wont be able to connect to your server since the connection is not initiated by you.
 

DennisLee said:
Hi, need some expert help on network and security issue. Hope some of you engineers here can enlighten.

Some one is trying to sell this product to me. http://www.alphashield.com/ What it does it basically hides the ip address of your lan from the public. Is this product really useful?

Suppose u r a hacker, and have bad intention, and without the protection of the alpha-shield, how do you find out my ip address and what can you do to my system after u know my ip address?

Isn't software protection a better deal?

Thanks for u your help!


Dennis


I think it works the same compare with a normal router.
Because NAT changes the IP address, there is a loss of ip end-to-end traceability. The multiple packet-address changes confuse ip tracing utilities. This provides one advantage from a security standpoint: it eliminates some of a hacker's ability to identify a packet's source.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.