User's Manual

Firewall Protection and Content Filtering 4-1
Chapter 4
Firewall Protection and
Content Filtering
This chapter describes how to use the content filtering features of the Model FWAG114 Cable/
DSL Wireless ProSafe Firewall to protect your network. These features can be found by clicking
on the Content Filtering heading in the Main Menu of the browser interface.
Firewall Protection and Content Filtering Overview
The Model FWAG114 Cable/DSL Wireless ProSafe Firewall provides you with Web content
filtering options, plus browsing activity reporting and instant alerts via e-mail. Parents and
network administrators can establish restricted access policies based on time-of-day, web
addresses and web address keywords. You can also block Internet access by applications and
services, such as chat or games.
A firewall is a special category of router that protects one network (the “trusted” network, such as
your LAN) from another (the “untrusted” network, such as the Internet), while allowing
communication between the two. A firewall incorporates the functions of a NAT (Network
Address Translation) router, while adding features for dealing with a hacker intrusion or attack,
and for controlling the types of traffic that can flow between the two networks. Unlike simple
Internet sharing NAT routers, a firewall uses a process called stateful packet inspection to protect
your network from attacks and intrusions. NAT performs a very limited stateful inspection in that
it considers whether the incoming packet is in response to an outgoing request, but true Stateful
Packet Inspection goes far beyond NAT.
To configure these features of your router, click on the subheadings under the Content Filtering
heading in the Main Menu of the browser interface. The subheadings are described below: