I need some I.T. advice.

[Shelly2inme]

I am hoping that someone with a good knowledge of computers and the internet can give me some advice. What I am wondering is if there is really any need for a firewall. Is the threat of cyber attacks just more hype from big business that is trying to sell software?

I would like to hear from anyone that is up-to-date on this topic. So a college student studying computer science would be great. But I would like to hear from anyone that has ever been hacked or knows if the treat is real of fake.

Thanks!

 

[butters]

without a firewall, your computer won't last long. it'll get internet cooties.

 

[Sean]

This is Tim level IT skilz.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

Holy shit is this real?

Please don't use a firewall. You deserve what will happen.

 

[butters]

Holy shit is this real?

Please don't use a firewall. You deserve what will happen.

excellent

 

[Ann_Tagonist]

Someone might steal my solitaire statistics.

 

[LupusDei]

Modern botnets are clean and unobtrusive, mostly quietly using free resources and only locking bandwidth in times of great mobilization. Your computer will become little slower, then a little slower still, the internet connection will seem jittery, but that's all. What hacking, stealing and ddos attacks it would be involved with, you will have no idea. At least until your IP will be banned for spamming.

 

[Ann_Tagonist]

Modern botnets are clean and unobtrusive, mostly quietly using free resources and only locking bandwidth in times of great mobilization. Your computer will become little slower, then a little slower still, the internet connection will seem jittery, but that's all. What hacking, stealing and ddos attacks it would be involved with, you will have no idea. At least until your IP will be banned for spamming.

I was told by a guy, that if they really want you, they'll get you.

 

[LupusDei]

I was told by a guy, that if they really want you, they'll get you.

Yeah, if they want you, specifically. Most then times however, it's collecting free crumbs. The unprotected resources are there to be used. It doesn't matter most of those nodes are old shit and not constantly online, distributing a task among tens of thousands still gives you impressive computing power. For certain use cases it is plain number of simultaneous connections that counts. Internet of things is a goldmine for that, and mostly left wide open.

 

[FGB]

https://anydifferencebetween.com/difference-between-personal-firewall-and-network-firewall/

Get educated before someone educates you...

 

[Replicant2018]

Definitely need firewall

 

[Debbie]

I think of a firewall like a smoke alarm = safety first.

 

[Ann_Tagonist]

I needed a new thermostat for my hvac and had a wireless one in my hand, so I could control the temperature of my living room from outer space, then I got to thinking that I am so rarely in outer space, I bought the plain programmable one instead. So it flashes 12:00...12:00...12:00...