IPv6 Firewall on Sky Q Hub?

[jettison]

- Is the IPv6 firewall that ships with the Sky Q hub sufficient for security?

- Does the Sky Q hub need to be put behind, or in front of another firewall?

- Does all IPv4 traffic passing through the Sky Q hub also pass through the IPv6 firewall?

[mae-3 · Accepted solution]

@jettison 

The Sky routers block all traffic that does not originate from the LAN and that about it and it's in common with most ISP routers for both IPv4 & IPv6. There is stuff that is done via broadband shield/Sky Buddy that does block DNS requests for offering slightly more protection.

Most people run antivirus & firewalls on their computers internally on the LAN additionally for added protection. And use Sky Buddy which has a very limited amount of categories but is good enough for most people.

Do you need additional protection with a proper firewall, well, that really depends on what you doing and how paranoid about security you are and protecting yourself from trackers, advertisements, malware and so on...? And of course, how much you wish to invest... 

Ask me, then I'm very paranoid about security especially when I see what is being blocked by my own firewall which wasn't being done by the router... 😎

[Chrisee]

@jettison to add to @mae-3 's excellent reply Sky design their products for domestic use and normal threats so unless you are at particular risk you should not require extra firewall hardware. No network that is connected to the outside world is 100% safe but just as you dont need to install bank grade locks on the doors in most homes the need for extra security hardware is unlikely. 

These days the main security risk most of us face is from phishing attacks where the attack is initiated by clicking on a link in a seamingly safe message or email. This is something no firewall can protect you from and is where good quality security software is invaluable as it should warn of the threat. The other sensible precation is to keep all of your devices' operating systems up to date as security updates are issued for a reason.

[mae-3]

@Chrisee 

Firewalls have advanced somewhat and they do protect against phishing links or at least mine does when it's clicked it is blocked. 😎

[Chrisee]

@mae-3 but the Sky hubs firewall wont.I agree hardware firewalls are required for business networks etc especially when running servers or where data is particularly sensitive but are overkill for 99% of domestic users where basic security software will do the job. 

[mae-3]

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@Chrisee wrote:

These days the main security risk most of us face is from phishing attacks where the attack is initiated by clicking on a link in a seamingly safe message or email. This is something no firewall can protect you from and is where good quality security software is invaluable as it should warn of the threat. The other sensible precation is to keep all of your devices' operating systems up to date as security updates are issued for a reason.

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It is that statement I had an issue with @Chrisee and was just correcting you, and I absolutely agree with you in a domestic setting unless you connecting to a work environment, run servers then you don't need a business-grade firewall unless you're paranoid! 😎

[Chrisee]

@mae-3 ok point taken and you are of course right! Shame the NHS didn't havecsomething similar a couple ofvyears back.

Takes me back to my days when my office networks could access hugely sensitive data on individuals as we gave advice on everything from debt through heath issues to possible criminal activity. Then we did need pretty robust firewalls and security. Biggest issue though wasnt hacking it was advisers sticking notes with passwords on their screens or leaving the system live when they left the client alone for a few minutes. Which is why I stress the small things around data protection. 😀

[mae-3]

@Chrisee 

It's amazing the extent of the internet profiling that occurs these days and a snapshot of 48 hours shows how prevalent it is on the internet from my own firewall, and a good grade firewall does help, 25,000 blocks in our case across 50 devices in 2 days!

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chrisee wrote:

Shame the NHS didn't havecsomething similar a couple ofvyears back.

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Mostly they did , but SMB 1.0 was being allowed through firewalls on the internal N3 network, presumably to facilitate access to legacy document repositories.  Put that together with many thousands of unpatched Windows boxes (including XP three years after end-of-support) and a wormable exploit stolen from the NSA being weaponised by the DPRK...