Opening port 80 in firewall - possible consequences of this?

Apache server requires port 80 to be opened in firewall in order for other users be able to access web-pages hosted on my home server. I wonder what other negative consequences this may have for overall computer security, and how I can mitigate the risk of privacy intrusion (I consider any recommendations, including changing the firewall. I currently run Windows firewall in Windows 7 (64bit) environment)?

 

In general on Win7 firewall, using an AV
http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-7/how-to-manage-the-windows-7-firewall/

in addition keep you Apache server patched and implement whatever best security practices are for it

 

@jbionic

Why are you doing this, if I may ask? Is there another way to achieve your goal?

If your users are on other local machines, and you trust them, and if your LAN is behind a NAT router or firewall with no open ports, you'll probably be fine. If, OTOH, you'll be serving a website to the open internet, you'd better know what you're doing, or you'll probably end up pwned by some script kiddie.

 

I know how to open a port in Windows 7, and my station is not behind a router. Should I allow the 80 port to be opened for httpd.exe (Apache exec) only, or for any inbound connections in firewall? Does anybody run Apache server and know what to do?

 

IMHO, just get a low-cost hosting account somewhere. If you're determined to experiment, use an old machine with nothing important on it, and put everything else behind a NAT router/firewall. And BTW, you'll need a fixed IP address.

 

This was what I did when I set up a site. You can get shared hosting for less than $6 a month.