Safe Luxury

Is plugging your computer directly into a DSL line safe?

I've only ever used wireless home networks. Is it less safe to plug your computer directly into a DSL line? A computer technician said that firewalls like COMODO are more for people who plug directly into the internet and not for those with a secured wireless home network with a firewalled modem. I'm not sure what he meant. To clarify, I currently belong to a secure wireless home network that uses a firewalled router. I want to know if it is safe if you just plug it into a DSL cable, with no wireless and no router. I also want to know what the technician meant when he said that firewalls like Comodo are meant for those who connect directly with the internet.

Public Comments

1. What do you mean? The firewall should be on your PC, not the DSL modem. Unless you use a router, your PC always plugs directly into the DSL modem. I think I see what you're asking. Connecting by plugging directly into the router vs a wireless connection is more safe ans secure than connecting wirelessly. Sounds like that tech doesn't know jack. By the way, you can't plug your PC directly into the DSL line out of the wall, they are two different connection types. The DSL line comes out of the wall, then into the DSL modem, then it goes either: 1. Directly into your PC, or 2. Into a router, then into your PC He means that if you are connecting to the Internet by plugging your PC directly into the DSL modem, then you need firewall software. If you need a decent free one, search for Zonealarm.
2. a dsl line is nothing more than a telephone line. do you think its safe to plug your phone directly into a phone line? dsl is just split to voice and data at the same time. use your head.
3. the technician means like if you have a router or a exchanging hardware with your computer, it will have an firewall integrated in the hardware and it will protect your computer a little bit. he is right. but you should have some kinds of protection in your computer, atleast an AntiVirus Software, then a spyware, it will be safer for your computer, but a router is good b/c it's hard to destroy the block by the router b/c that's hardware firewall but the firewall in the computer are softwares, it's easier to go through..so i recommend you to use a router or something like that to make your computer safer.
4. The wireless network is only less secure locally, because anyone with a laptop in close proximity can connect to it and steal your bandwidth or potentialy access your files. To make the wireless network secure, use a password. Then only you can connect to it. When he means directly to the DSL line, I believe he does in fact mean from the wall into the modem, and from the modem to your computer via the ethernet/USB port. This setup does not have a router, which often broadcasts the wirless network. Without a router, only the one computer can have internet. It is not eaisily possible to hook up other computers in the house to the internet without a router. A hand function of a router is that it usualy has a built in firewall, which makes it very difficult for people on the other side of the internet to hack your computer. A setup without a router does not have this built in hardware firewall, and thus you need to download a software firewall. The best setup if you have a router is thus: Wall to filter, filter to modem, modem to router, router to computer. Make sure that if the router is wireless you have a password. Then you are secure locally and over the net. If you dont have a router, just get a firewall offline. Good Luck!
5. Connecting to the Internet via a router is generally more safe than connecting directly (e.g. plug the computer in directly to the DSL modem). This is because the router effectively acts as a shield in front of your computer. The router assigns a “private” IP address to your computer, and all communication with the outside would must go through it (and its firewall). In some ways, your computer is “hidden”. If hackers wish to ping ports on your computers (to find weaknesses, etc.), they will have no success because the machine they would be pinging would be the router. However, if you’re connecting to the router wirelessly, please make sure you are using WPA or WPA2 encryption. WEP was the old encryption standard, but it has been shown to provide very weak security. If you are connecting to the Internet via a router with firewall built in, there is generally no need to run on software firewall on your machine (like COMODO). Depending on the router, its firewall features could be just as sophisticated as any software firewall.
6. totally, absolutley safe. no problems with that