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GlobeSurfer
®
II 1.8 - 7.2 - 7.2 S
REFERENCE MANUAL
The firewall regulates the flow of data between the home network and the Internet. Both incoming and outgoing data are
inspected and then either accepted (allowed to pass through GlobeSurfer
®
II) or rejected (barred from passing through
GlobeSurfer
®
II) according to a flexible and configurable set of rules. These rules are designed to prevent unwanted intrusions
from the outside, while allowing home users access to the Internet services that they require.
The firewall rules specify what types of services available on the Internet may be accessed from the home network and what
types of services available in the home network may be accessed from the Internet. Each request for a service that the firewall
receives, whether originating in the Internet or from a computer in the home network, is checked against the set of firewall
rules to determine whether the request should be allowed to pass through the firewall. If the request is permitted to pass, then
all subsequent data associated with this request (a “session”) will also be allowed to pass, regardless of its direction.
For example, when you point your Web browser to a Web page on the Internet, a request is sent out to the Internet for this
page. When the request reaches GlobeSurfer
®
II the firewall will identify the request type and origin, HTTP and a specific PC in
your home network, in this case. Unless you have configured access control to block requests of this type from this computer,
the firewall will allow this request to pass out onto the Internet (see section 5.3.2 for more on setting access controls). When
the Web page is returned from the Web server the firewall will associate it with this session and allow it to pass, regardless of
whether HTTP access from the Internet to the home network is blocked or permitted.
The important thing to note here is that it is the origin of the request, not subsequent responses to this request, that
determines whether a session can be established or not.
You may choose from among three pre-defined security levels for GlobeSurfer
®
II: Minimum, Typical and Maximum. The table
below summarizes the behavior of GlobeSurfer
®
II for each of the three security levels.
SECURITY LEVEL
REQUESTS ORIGINATING IN THE
WAN (INCOMING TRAFFIC)
REQUESTS ORIGINATING IN THE LAN
(OUTGOING TRAFFIC)
Maximum Securityww
Blocked: No access to home network
from Internet, except as configured in
the Port Forwarding, DMZ host and
Remote Access screens
Limited: By default, Only commonly-
used services, such as Webbrowsing
and e-mail, are permitted *
Typical Security
Blocked: No access to home network
from Internet, except as configured in
the Port Forwarding, DMZ host and
Remote Access screens
Blocked: No access to home network
from Internet, except as configured in
the Port Forwarding, DMZ host and
Remote Access screens
Minumum Security
Unrestricted: Permits full access
from Internet to home network; all
connection attempts permitted
Blocked: No access to home network
from Internet, except as configured in
the Port Forwarding, DMZ host and
Remote Access screens
* These services include Telnet, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. The list of allowed services at ‘Maximum
Security’ mode can be edited in the Access Control page.
Attention
: Some applications (such as some Internet messengers and Peer-To-Peer client applications) tend to use these
ports, if they cannot connect with their own default ports. When applying this behavior, these applications will not be blocked
outbound, even at Maximum Security Level.
To configure GlobeSurfer
®
II’s security settings:
1.
Choose from among the three predefined security levels described in the table above.
Using the Minimum Security setting may expose the home network to significant security risks, and thus should only be
used, when necessary, for short periods of time.
2.
Check the ‘Block IP Fragments’ box in order to protect your home network from a common type of hacker attack that could
make use of fragmented data packets to sabotage your home network.
Note that VPN over IPSec and some UDP-based services make legitimate use of IP fragments. You will need to allow IP
fragments to pass into the home network in order to make use of these select services.
3.
Click the ‘OK’ button to save your changes.