VPN providers who offer a NAT firewall service place a NAT firewall between the VPN server and the internet so that all internet traffic is filtered through the NAT firewall.ĭevice connected to LAN Home router NAT firewall ISP VPN server NAT firewall Internet Can’t I just use a personal firewall like the one that came with my OS? (all connection within the are inside an encrypted VPN tunnel). This means that you lose the protection afforded by the NAT firewall, and malicious IP packets can enter your system from your public, visible IP address.ĭevice connected to LAN Home router NAT firewall ISP VPN server Internet The problem with using a personal VPN service, however, is that the encrypted VPN tunnel between your PC and the VPN server also tunnels through the NAT firewall (which cannot read the packets headers, as they are encrypted). What all this means is that normally, when you are connected to the internet through a router, you are protected by a hardware firewall that provides a good first line of defense against would-be hackers. It is used in home routers (such as the typical WiFi router) to allow a number of devices (such as desktop computers, laptops, games consoles, mobile phones, and internet-enabled televisions), each with their own network address, to connect to the internet using the one external IP you are assigned by your ISP.ĭevices connected to LAN NAT router ISP internetīecause IP packets that are not recognized are discarded, the NAT process acts as a simple but effective firewall, blocking incoming traffic unless it is in response to previously sent outgoing traffic i.e. Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process of modifying the IP information in IP packet headers so that the packets can be routed to the required destination.
Most modern Operating Systems, such as Windows (Vista onwards) and OSX have at least a basic personal firewall built-in.
Firewalls are therefore very useful for stopping hackers who use various techniques to insert malicious packets onto computers.Ī firewall can be either a piece of software (often called a ‘personal firewall’) or a hardware network device. Its purpose is to control communications between the two, by analyzing the data packets and determining what to do with them. A firewall is a ‘thing’ that sits between a secure Local Area Network (LAN) such as a home WiFi setup, and a less secure area such as the internet. But what does this mean, and why should I want it? The more tech-savvy out there may be even more confused as every home and office router includes basic NAT filtering, so why should you need an additional service? It is becoming increasingly common to see VPN providers offering NAT firewall services, usually as an optional extra.
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