Hacked at Home
Hi Lincoln,
I just read with interest your article in Web Techniques about home systems being hacked [see "Webmaster's Domain," August 1999]. I've been warning people about this very thing for several years whenever they talked about getting cable modems or DSL. While these services are not yet available in my area, when I'm able to use a cable modem you can bet that I'll install my own firewall! (I'm a network engineer by trade.) I'm convinced that we'll be hearing about such hacking many times in the next year or two!
Bravo for bringing this issue to light. Now all we need is for the less technical media to start informing people about the dangers of unprotected Internet use. I'm sure that Time-Warner and its competitors are hoping to keep these dangers as quiet as possible.
Ted Miller
President, CoolWeb.com
I predict that the next generation of cable modems (and DSL, too, in all likelihood) will come with built-in firewalls that block all incoming communications. This will be sold as a security feature, but the real motivation will be to prevent home users from setting up Web sites and other outgoing services, thereby encouraging users to purchase Web-site space on the ISPıs servers.
Lincoln Stein
