User guide

13
Wide Area Network Termination
While an Always On connection is convenient, it does leave your network permanently con-
nected to the Internet, and therefore potentially vulnerable to attacks.
Netopia's Instant On technology furnishes almost all the benefits of an Always-On connec-
tion while providing two additional security benefits:
• Your network cannot be attacked when it is not connected.
• Your network may change address with each connection making it more difficult to
attack.
When you configure Instant On access, you can also configure an idle time-out value. Your
Gateway monitors traffic over the Internet link and when there has been no traffic for the
configured number of seconds, it disconnects the link.
When new traffic that is destined for the Internet arrives at the Gateway, the Gateway will
instantly re-establish the link.
Your service provider may be using a system that assigns the Internet address of your
Gateway out of a pool of many possible Internet addresses. The address assigned varies
with each connection attempt, which makes your network a moving target for any attacker.