A look at firewalls and worms for wireless networks

One thing that you need to know about before we can begin to talk about firewalls and worms for wireless networks is what a wireless network is. Basically a wireless network is a way for you to access your home network, your computer at home, when you are far away, the same thing holds true for your business computer as well. What this basically boils down to is that if you are traveling out of state and have a wireless network set up at home you can still access your files on your home computer through the wireless network and you can connect from anywhere that you want, you don't have to worry about having a phone line or a cable connection to connect to the internet because it is all done without wires. So basically a wireless network is there to allow you the convenience of accessing your files from wherever you might be.

But the problem is that with wireless networks on the increase, meaning more people using them, you are also going to experience more and more people who are using those same networks for malicious purposes. What this means is that the people are using the wireless network to access your files, hack into your computer, and either implant viruses, spyware or other types of malicious code or they are trying to steal your personal information so that they can take over your identity. But no matter what they are actually doing there are doing it to cause some sort of harm.

But what people don't seem to realize is that you are looking at the same types of threats and ways to protect your computers from those threats on a wireless network that you face with a regular network. What this basically means is that there are no special viruses being created that will only attack wireless networks nor are there special firewalls that only work for wireless networks. Both the viruses that are being created and the firewalls that are used to protect the computers are made for any type of network. But in any case you should be aware of both worms and firewalls for any kind of network so that you can better protect your computer while you are using a wireless network.

The first thing that you should know about is firewalls. When it comes to firewalls what you are going to want to know is what they are for, what they do and how they work. Basically how a firewall works is that it is a program that is installed on your computer that blocks access to all of your computers open ports. A good firewall will ask you if you want certain ports opened so that something can access the internet, it will not automatically open up a port unless you program it to. What your firewall is doing is blocking any inside access to the internet unless the program or file has permission from you the users. The firewall is also blocking any outside access that is trying to access your computer without your permission. The firewall is there to stop any kind of malicious traffic from entering your computer.

You also need to know about worms and what they are. Many people make the mistake of thinking that worms are the same thing as computer viruses, but what they don't know is that they are not because unlike a computer virus worms do not attach themselves to other files. But worms are similar to computer viruses because are used to interfere with your normal access or use of a computer program or file and they are designed to spread themselves to other people's systems through network connections. But one of the most important things that you need to know about computer worms is that the best way to protect yourself on a wireless network from worms is through the use of a really good firewall.