What is a NAT Firewall/Router/Gateway?
“NAT” stands for “Network Address Translation”, which is used to “map” the private IP addresses of individual computers on a local network, to a single IP address (the “NAT’s address”) on the Internet. Many providers use this to remap their end-consumer IP addresses to the Internet. Many small networks (SOHO and home private networks) use NAT to remap their home or office machines through a DSL (or DSL/Wireless) modem to the Internet. A NAT firewall, router or gateway is simply a piece of equipment or software that makes the bridge between your local network and the Internet, and makes all of the connections appear to be from the NAT address, not the local address of the LAN computer. A PAT firewall, router or gateway is effectively the same thing, except that it maps network ports, in addition to IP addresses. For the purposes of the CBL, a PAT is the same as a NAT. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are running your own wireless hub/router, it is often possible for “unwanted guests” to sneak int
