Static IP greatly increases the risk of getting viruses?

AARRRGH

Hello,

By good fortune I've moved to an apartment wit IBB breeze.

I've heard that if you have a static IP address it greatly increases the chance of your PC getting infected with viruses etc.

Is there any way around this? Any suggestions appreciated.

Thank you.

AARRRGH

By the way, I always have my anti-virus and windows updates uptodate.

irlirishkev

If you've got BB, and have a static IP (even if you don't have the latter for that matter), then you should have some sort of firewall in place. This will allow you to send traffic out of your connection, but restrict what comes back in.
Firewalls are highly configurable, and are probably available from IBB if you enquire. If not, any computer store will be able to supply one, and if necessary set it up for you.

Kevin.

AARRRGH

Is the windows XP firewall sufficient??

mr_angry

No. A hardware firewall is recommended. By having a static IP, you become attractive to hackers as a mechanism for sending spam or taking part in zombie network attacks. They hunt down people based on this setup, and target them.

Believe me, from experience, get a hardware firewall, keep it up to date with firmware revisions, and if your internet seems unusually slow, don't be afraid to check the firewall logs, etc. And of course, keep your PC virus software up to date.

AARRRGH

Thank you. Do you have any hardware firewalls to recommend?

I assume I just plug the firewall into my internet connection, and then plug my laptop into the firewall with DHCP turned on?

mr_angry

If you have a single computer setup, your equipment will most likely be daisy-chained in the order of modem-firewall-laptop. I'm not sure what the IBB setup is like though, so I'm not 100% on that. The staff wherever you get the firewall should be able to advise you.

Personally, I got a modem with an integrated firewall, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of buying separate equipment, and I wouldn't know which model to recommend.

MickFarr

dublindude wrote:

I've heard that if you have a static IP address it greatly increases the chance of your PC getting infected with viruses etc.

Having a static IP does not increases the chance of your PC getting a virus but it greatly increases the chance of your PC getting hacked.

As for which type of firewall you should use there are some good free ones out there but if your not sure what type you want here's a link to a good article.

Firewall Debate: Hardware vs. Software

jimmycrackcorm

I use a software firewall (sygate personal) because it allows you to be aware of and block any dodgy applications trying to communicate out.

Having a static ip on broadband does not increase your chances of attack because most dynamic ips are allocated for very lengthy periods.

Red Alert

Static IP bringing more viruses is a load of nonsense.

You MUST however have a hardware firewall, and make sure win XP firewall is turned on as well. The LinkSys ones are quite good and are uPnP enabled for things like MSN messenger.

tomk

If you have an old PC and a couple of NICs lying around, you can turn them into a firewall with Smoothwall or IPCop - IPCop would be my preference but they're both good.

MrPinK

I wouldn't spend money on a hardware firewall for a single PC. A good software firewall (not the XP firewall) will give you the same level of protection. And it's best to get a software firewall anyway, to prevent trojans, email worms, and spyware from making outgoing connects. Hardware firewalls won't help with these.

But if you really want the best, I second tomk's suggestion and add m0n0wall to the list.

MickFarr

I use Kerio and find it very good and easy to use.

Here are some other good free firewalls :-Free Firewall Software for Windows

If you use any bittorrent apps then do not use Zonealarm. It will cause serious problems on your PC. You can use an old version 4.5 which will work fine.

Mutant_Fruit

A static IP by no way means that you'll be more susceptible to virus's or hackers... it just means that if a hacker DOES decide to hack you, he can call back to the same IP address and be sure you're still there. But the odds of an actualy hacker actually hacking into a home computer repeatedly are quite slim.

KeRbDoG

Just get yourself a NetGear/LinkSys BB Router/Firewall. Easy to configure and will give the novice alot of protection for only 50-100euro. I got myself a DG834G (adsl modem though, no good for you) but it includes wireless running at 54(g). One of the best things I have bought last year.