NETGEAR FWG114P v2 manual Chapter Firewall Protection Content Filtering

Chapter 6

Firewall Protection and

Content Filtering

This chapter describes how to use the content filtering features of the ProSafe Wireless 802.11g Firewall/Print Server Model FWG114P v2 to protect your network. These features can be found by clicking on the Content Filtering heading in the Main Menu of the browser interface.

Firewall Protection and Content Filtering Overview

The ProSafe Wireless 802.11g Firewall/Print Server Model FWG114P v2 provides you with Web content filtering options, plus browsing activity reporting and instant alerts via e-mail. Parents and network administrators can establish restricted access policies based on time-of-day, Web addresses, and Web address keywords. You can also block Internet access by applications and services, such as chat or games.

A firewall is a special category of router that protects one network (the “trusted” network, such as your LAN) from another (the “untrusted” network, such as the Internet), while allowing communication between the two. A firewall incorporates the functions of a NAT (Network Address Translation) router, while adding features for dealing with a hacker intrusion or attack, and for controlling the types of traffic that can flow between the two networks. Unlike simple Internet sharing NAT routers, a firewall uses a process called stateful packet inspection to protect your network from attacks and intrusions. NAT performs a very limited stateful inspection in that it considers whether the incoming packet is in response to an outgoing request, but true Stateful Packet Inspection goes far beyond NAT.

To configure these features of your router, click on the subheadings under the Content Filtering heading in the Main Menu of the browser interface. The subheadings are described below:

Using the Block Sites Menu to Screen Content

The FWG114P v2 allows you to restrict access based on the following categories:

•Use of a proxy server

•Type of file (Java, ActiveX, Cookie)

Firewall Protection and Content Filtering 6-1

201-10301-02, May 2005