Routers and Roadrunner Cable

[rfarabee]

I am a bit confused about routers and security. My Cable company told me that when using router with home network (5 pcs connected to hub, connected to router connected to cable modem) that security was not an issue, regardless of the file and print sharing options. Anyone have an idea?

[Philip]

All Cable routers I've seen iplement NAT and assign PCs on your internal network private IP addresses that are not visible on the net. Built-in firewall is a nice side effect of NAT. However, you might have to open/close some ports using the routers' management interface in order to get the level of security you need. I think File and Print sharing might still be open, depending on which ports the router is configured to send/receive packets on.

[rfarabee]

The representatives of the cable company that installed the modem and router seem to disagree with the advice from corporate and seem to concur with you about file and print sharing. Unfortunately, that makes the network, not a network any more. I don't know how to access the router, are there any third party products that a non knowledgeable individual such as my self could purchase and install that would allow me to use my network with file and print sharing. Thanks for your patience. If you can refer me to some documentation I am happy to read and try to understand. So far it's greek to me.