[cesarb]

> yes - because back then, NAT'ing / putting a machine behind a router wasn't commonplace yet.

Back then, even putting the machine behind a firewall (which is what you really meant, since being a router does not necessarily mean it has a firewall enabled) wouldn't have been enough; it was not that uncommon to already have infected machines on the local network (because they had earlier been connected without being behind a firewall).