ESET Firewall, my Router Firewall, and Win 10 Firewall

[ckbeme 1]

Greetings,

 

Don't know if any of you read my post awhile back about my laptop and Desktop getting hacked. The hackers also cracked my password for LastPass password manager so they got into a few sites. But they somehow managed to get into my Bank website, and I never saved the password for my bank in LastPass - I never stored that password anywhere. Yet they hit me for $1350. 

 

Anyway, I worked with a guy from an Anti-hacker forum and he helped me get my Desktop cleaned up to the point I felt my Data was safe. I did a format, clean reinstall of Win 10. I'm taking a break for a week or so then going to work on the laptop.

 

I have always been very cautious with my firewall rules, ran AV and Malware scans daily, and I don't visit questionable sites. But somehow these guys got into my laptop through the Internet.  I want to do everything I can to tighten up all the access ports that could be used by hackers.

 

My router has a firewall, ESET SS has a firewall, and Win 10 has a firewall. Even after going through the ESET user guide, I'm confused about the ESET firewall and what part it plays in protecting my system. Is ESET's firewall the 'boss' and the other two firewalls are not serving any purpose?  I just wanted to get some answers before I spend time and effort making security changes. For example, I never use FTP or Telnet, but every firewall software I've seen has those ports open. I went into my Router Firewall and blocked port 21 and port 23, but is that even being looked at since I have the ESET firewall? I bet $10 that those two ports are open on ESET.

 

When I went into the Win 10 Firewall today, it displayed a message:  

These settings are being managed by vendor application ESET Smart Security.

 

Yet, it does allow me to go into Advanced Settings in the Firewall Maintenance screen and make additional rules. I just added a new rule a few minutes ago to test.

 

Port 25 was used for email for years, but awhile back most vendors stopped using port 25 because of vulnerabilaties - First it was SPAM, then came viruses and worms. My ISP has port 25 blocked for this reason. In fact, my ISP has several ports blocked - TCP and UDP. They have published the list on their website and explained each port they have blocked and the reason it is blocked.

 

Is my Router Firewall being used? Is my Windows Firewall being used?. I'd like to close some ports that I know for a fact are used for Trojans and other evil doings. I have closed some of the ports on my Router, but it's going to be a time consuming process. If ESET's firewall is in control, and my other two firewalls aren't being used, I don't want to waste time making changes to those firewall settings.  And how about this - if my other two firewalls are NOT being used because of ESET, is there a setting that I could change that would allow another firewall to be used?

 

After reading the User Guide for ESET's firewall, I'm still confused about how I would make additional entries that would block some of the ports I'm concerned about.  This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask. If I block ports in one or all 3 of these firewalls, does that block access ONLY for users that are coming in through my network? Or if those ports are blocked, does it block access from the Internet AND the Network?

 

 

I'd appreciate any help on this. I just finished my clean install of Win 10 last night and I want to get busy securing my system and network ASAP.

 

Thanks all.

 

[Marcos 5,074]

In automatic mode (default), ESET firewall blocks any non-initiated inbound communication and allows all outbound communication. That said, anybody outside the trusted zone would be unable to connect to your computer unless you created the appropriate allowing rule.

[ckbeme 1]

So that means inbound via the Internet or via my Network, right?

[ckbeme 1]

Sorry I didn't think to put this in my last post... I have a nephew that gets on my PC when he's here. I know he goes to some sites I don't want him to go to. I realize ESET will block most of them, but if I want to put a rule into my Router or Windows Firewall to block a couple of those sites, will those rules be used? (Back to my original post asking if the other firewalls are ignored or if there rules are used)

 

 

Thanks.

[ckbeme 1]

I use forums for various reasons. Sometimes just to chat about an issue with certain software, sometimes to help others where I am well versed on a topic. And I also come to forums to get an answer to a question about how certain things function in specific software.

 

Each time I've posted on here, i get an incomplete reply. So you guys aren't reading my entire post, or you just think your reply did the job.

 

Well, I had two questions that didn't get an answer. Is my router firewall ignored because ESET is the 'BOSS'? Is the Win 10 firewall ignored for the same reason?

 

 

Maybe you guys think your reply was sufficient. But it left two questions unanswered.  Maybe this is just an ESET thing, because when I send a tech support request to ESET, the exact same results occur. I get a 'partial' answer.

 

I really hate to come onto this forum because I have yet to get a complete answer to my post. Every other forum I go to with a technical question - amazingly enough - i get a complete answer. Usually from many users.

 

When I'm on a forum where I have expertise, I am happy to be able to answer a question for a user. We were not all born experts in our field. After the devestating hacker attack that hit both of my computers and hit my bank account for over $1300 , it's even more critical to me that I know how ESET SS works.

 

Soooo, if one of you can manage to answer the rest of my questions in my post, I'd be most grateful. I'll enter the questions once again, so hopefully  somebody is certain to see the questions.

 

Does my router firewall get ignored because ESET is the boss? Does the win 10 firewall get ignored becaue ESET os the boss?

 

Some of you might say - Why not just use the ESET firewall? Well, the answer is 'I haven't had time to learn how to use the ESET firewall. I'm very adept at using my router firewall and the Win 10 firewall.'

 

Hopefully when I get my other PC cleaned up from the hack job, I'll have time to sit down and read the ESET user guide and become proficient at using the firewall there. Meantime, I have some holes I want to plug and some websites I want to block. And I want to do it ASAP.

 

Thanks for any help.

Edited August 26, 2016 by ckbeme

[itman 1,659]

Well, I had two questions that didn't get an answer. Is my router firewall ignored because ESET is the 'BOSS'? Is the Win 10 firewall ignored for the same reason?

Routers have two interfaces; the WAN side and the LAN side.

 

The WAN side is what interfaces with the Internet. The router's firewall protects and controls WAN traffic. It also controls what traffic is allow to the LAN side of the router by opening ports as required.

 

The Eset firewall interfaces with the LAN side of the router. It controls what LAN traffic is allow to/from your PC.

 

As far as the Win firewall is concerned, in ver. 9 the only way you can directly interface with it is by setting the Eset firewall to "automatic" mode. This mode allows all outbound traffic by the Eset firewall. You can then enable the option to "Evaluate also rules from Windows firewall" which will additional apply any of its existing inbound rules.

Edited August 28, 2016 by itman

[ckbeme 1]

Thanks so very much for setting me straight on that. I really appreciate it.