Chapter  5. Securing the Private 
Network 
You  can  secure  your  network  by  creating  and  applying  rules  that  your  router  uses  to 
selectively  block  and  allow  inbound  and  outbound  Internet  traffic.  You  then  specify 
how and to whom the rules apply. To do so, you must define the following: 
  Services  or  traffic  types  (examples:  web  browsing,  VoIP,  other  standard  services 
and also custom services that you define)  
  Direction for the traffic by  specifying the source and destination of traffic; this is 
done  by  specifying  the  ―From  Zone‖  (LAN/WAN/DMZ)  and  ―To  Zone‖ 
(LAN/WAN/DMZ) 
  Schedules as to when the router should apply rules 
  Any  Keywords  (in  a  domain  name  or  on  a  URL  of  a  web  page)  that  the  router 
should allow or block 
  Rules for allowing or blocking inbound and outbound Internet traffic for specified 
services on specified schedules 
  MAC addresses of devices that should not access the internet  
  Port triggers that signal the router to allow or block access to specified services as 
defined by port number 
  Reports and alerts that you want the router to send to you 
You  can,  for  example,  establish  restricted-access  policies  based  on  time-of-day,  web 
addresses,  and  web  address  keywords.  You  can  block  Internet  access  by  applications 
and  services  on  the  LAN,  such  as  chat  rooms  or  games.  You  can  block  just  certain 
groups  of  PCs  on  your  network  from  being  accessed  by  the  WAN  or  public  DMZ 
network. 
5.1  Firewall Rules 
Advanced > Firewall Settings > Firewall Rules 
Inbound (WAN  to  LAN/DMZ)  rules  restrict access to  traffic entering  your network, 
selectively allowing only specific outside users to access specific local resources. By 
default all access from the insecure WAN side are blocked from accessing the secure 
LAN, except in response to requests from the LAN or DMZ. To allow outside devices 
to  access  services  on  the  secure  LAN,  you  must  create  an  inbound  firewall  rule  for 
each service. 
If  you  want  to  allow  incoming  traffic,  you  must  make  the  router‘s  WAN  port  IP 
address known to the public. This is called ―exposing your host.‖ How you make your 
address  known  depends  on  how  the  WAN  ports  are  configured;  for  this  router  you