Benefit of firewall over NAT-only 'protected' network

["Hugh Blandford" <hugh () island net au>]

Hi all,

could someone explain the vulnerabilities in a network that is only
'protected' via NAT.  I'm thinking about very small 1-3 person offices or
SOHO/home environments connected via an ADSL router providing NAT
functionality.

Please take into consideration that if they had a firewall, it would be
setup to allow all outbound traffic and let the 'responses' back in.  There
are no static inbound port or IP translations, no servers running on the
inside.  Issues such as change control and management should be ignored.
I'm aware that they would benefit from proxy servers etc but most firewalls
that are purchased by these small sites don't have that capability anyway.

So any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hugh

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