[ale] how can a firewalled PC POSSIBLY be attacked?

[Jim Kinney]

A firewall is nothing more than a locked door to your house. It CAN be
broken through given time.

On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 8:28 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> The discussion on vpn's and security at Emory prompted me to ask this.
>  This was prompted by some statements in another thread that a PC could be
> in danger if attached to unfiltered lan ports on Emory's network.
>
> Assume you have a PC connected directly to the internet.  It doesn't
> matter if it's linux, windows, mac, or android.  I'm speaking in conceptual
> terms.  Assume the PC is not running any server type programs, so it is not
> listening on any ports.  Assume no one is browsing to potentially malicious
> web pages, or even any web pages.  The PC is just sitting there idling.
>  Assume the PC has firewall software running.  The firewall's only job is
> to drop all packets that are not part of a response to an inquiry that this
> PC has issued.    I don't want to debate, at this point, the pros and cons
> of dropping all packets or operating in stealth mode.
>
> My question is, conceptually speaking, how can this PC POSSIBLY be
> vulnerable to any remote attack?  How could anything phase it?
>
> Then, how does the answer change depending on whether it is linux,
> windows, mac, or android.
>
> Finally, if it were behind a hardware firewall, or router, how could any
> unwanted packets get on the lan?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>
> (To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
> address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
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>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
*
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