Firewall

[Miknow]

When I host a game on my server it says to turn off firewall so it will be easier for them to come in If I turn this off should I start to worry for hackers. Is there a way to host a game and be safe?

 

[cursor]

That's a good question!

Actually I have similar concerns when sharing files between computers on my network. If I want to transfer a file or print to a shared printer I have to disable ZoneAlarm. Any way around this?

 

[CyberFed]

if you give port access for the game you should be fine. I know i run some quake 3 servers and i just give my firewall router port access to the quake ports so people can connect and i still have my firewall.

 

[su root]

If you have a physical firewall, like a router, for example, then you can forward the port. There is very little security loss when you do this, as they can only get to that port on your machine.

If you have a software firewall, and you let the game "act as a server" then it can open ports, and allow outside internet access in, and that has less security loss, as the security "leak" is only open when the program is open. Unless the program has a bug or something in it, then it's fine

Either way you do it, it's not a big security leak