circumventing a powermac/NAT router

[Bill Moran]

In response to Luis Morales <lmora013 at fiu.edu>:

> Greetings,
> 
> I have been advised here previously to conceal my home network behind an old 
> powermac which would be used as a NAT router.  Now I have to consider 
> whether this is worth the expense because if someone is dead intent on 
> pilfering your research papers and they know where you submit them, wouldn't 
> they be able to defeat your secure network by stealing your files on the 
> receiving end?
> 
> Perhaps a concrete example will illustrate:
> 
> i have a mac mni behind a G4, i send a research paper to WebCT and Turnitin--
> that file will now be purloined by the heathen subject, the pawn of Baalzebub 
> itself.
> 
> Could this happen?

Yes.

The point, in many cases, is whose fault it is.  If I have confidential
data about you (SSN, medical info, etc) and I send it to you on your
request, then it's stolen from your computer, it's your fault.

But if I have your personal information (such as a CC#) and it gets stolen
from _my_ server, I'm probably going to be forking over some $$$ to
cover your trouble, unless you have a very crappy lawyer.  If your
CC# gets stolen through no fault of mine, I'm not paying a dime.

Don't know how this compares to your research paper scenario, but
hopefully it makes a point.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com