Q: I have DSL and I was wondering if I need a firewall to protect myself. If so, could you recommend one?

A: Unless you are particularly susceptible to hacker attacks -- if you have personally annoyed a hacker so you are especially worried and want to protect yourself -- you don't need a firewall.

If you are worried about being attacked on a DSL connection, there are a couple of things you can do. Let's first define some terms:

• DSL: Internet access provided by your Telephone Company (SNET), usually very high speed Internet access. With a DSL modem you have a full-time permanent connection on the Internet as long as your computer is on. Those two factors make you more prone to hackers than you would be with a dial-up connection.
• Dial-up: Means you have a dynamic IP address that changes each time you dial in, so a hacker wouldn't necessarily know where you are on the Internet. You are also only susceptible to attack when you are actually on the Internet.
• Firewall: According to ZDWebopedia, a firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially Intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

Before you invest the time in setting up a firewall, we recommend monitoring your connection for suspicious activity. For that we like NukeNabber, free from Puppet's Place. NukeNabber sets itself up to listen on TCP and UDP ports commonly attacked over the Internet. A total of 50 ports can be monitored simultaneously. ICMP dest_unreach attacks are now logged. It is designed to give you the information you need in order to trace an attacker including a method of finding an attacker's nickname on IRC (mIRC, VIRC and PIRCH clients are supported). Ports are sockets for logical connections. The port number identifies what type of port it is. For example, port 80 is used for HTTP traffic. Here is the full list of well-known ports as established by the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA). It's important to remember that most people don't need to worry about attacks by hackers. Unless your computer contains state secrets, bank records, or Beastie Boys tickets, you've got nothing to worry about.