Poor man’s guide to Network Security
This small and simple guide lists the best FREE solutions to secure your network.
Smoothwall Express
SmoothWall Express is an open source firewall distribution based on the GNU/Linux operating system.It includes a hardened subset of the GNU/Linux operating system and is configured via a web-based GUI. Best of all….it requires absolutely no knowledge of Linux to install or use.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
AVG Free is an excellent free anti-virus solution. Its very easy to use, needs low system resources, features automatic update functionality and real-time protection.
Snort
Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system. It is an exceptional product that uses a rule-driven language.
Nmap
Nmap (”Network Mapper”) is a free open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. Nmap can determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics.
Nessus
Nessus is an extremely powerful vulnerability scanner.