Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ?
From: "a.kuriger" <a.kuriger () liquidphlux com>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:25:37 -0500
On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:29:20 -0700, Steven Anders <anderstev () gmail com> wrote:
I received great responses and am very grateful to the help from
community
of this list. Thank you. I have a dumb question: Is a Windows box behind a router safe ? It is my father's PC and the Windows OS was not updated regularly. The Windows box was connected through wire (RJ45) to the router. The router
is
then connected to the DSL modem. The Windows Box has SP2 installed and the default Windows firewall
enabled
- and I think was last updated from Windows Update on in 2008. It has AVG anti virus. The PC was never moved anywhere and is always behind the router. The
router
has default settings, which I believe has no ports open. He never installed any applications or downloads anything off the net - mainly it is used for emails and general web browsing (using Firefox,
not
IE). I informed him to use Firefox, since IE has so many security
issues.
My questions are: 1. There are many exploits and vulnerabilities of Windows, but I was wondering if outdated Windows box behind router generally safe ? Since, the Windows box was not updated with the latest updates. I have always thought that having a computer behind the router (since router has firewall) is generally safe, but I would love to hear insights or thoughts. 2. If a Windows box is behind a router, could a botnet be installed to
it ?
Assuming, the end user does not install/download any applications from
the
Internet and always use Firefox. Thank you all in advance. steve
As far as Firefox goes, install adblock + noscript and only allow scripts to run on pages you trust. You may also want to look at your firewall to see if you can block outbound connections on any port you will not be using. _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
Current thread:
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ?, (continued)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? yersinia (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? Rohit Patnaik (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? Brian Anderson (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? Dave (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? vulcanius (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? john s (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? G. D. Fuego (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? john s (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? Steven Anders (Sep 22)
- Re: Dumb question: Is Windows box behind a router safe ? Camilo Uribe (Sep 23)