How secure is Coyote?
# A: While no Internet-connected machine is 100% safe, Coyote provides a moderate-to-strong degree of security for the computers that it shares an Internet connection with. Coyote Linux and other distributions like it that do not run services such as web, ftp, email, etc are as secure – or possibly more so – than commercially-offered home firewall/gateway solutions. By using Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide the true addresses of the internal computers (LAN hosts), by “stealthing” ports to partially hide the presence of your LAN from port-scanners, and by preventing any sort of direct connection from an Internet host to your LAN, Coyote provides the necessary security to enable such inherently-insecure services as Microsoft file/print sharing or Microsoft IIS with SQL Server, on your LAN. However, please note that by adding any portforwarding rules to Coyote, you are opening your LAN to additional risks. When a Coyote Rule allows access to an Internal computer, you then have to
