Internet Security
A firewall is a system or set of systems which implement part of
your companies' security policy. The cost and nature of this system
depends on the particulars of this policy, and the value of the
information and systems you are protecting.
Some of the salient policy points are:
- What access should outsiders be allowed to your
resources. Probably web and mail, maybe others.
- What access do employees need from home or on the road. Do
they need full access, or do they just need to pick up their
e-mail? If you set up a VPN, then their home machines can be a
channel for breakins.
- What access should people on the inside have to the
internet. If you let them connect out via ssh, they can set up
their own VPN in.
- How much do you trust your employees (or the software they
are running) not to be stupid. For example, Outlook (which
will heretofore be known as "the virus engine"), can be made to
execute active content without the user even opening the
message. And how many times have you had to tell them not to
open attachments? You may want some serious content filtering
to prevent this.
Resources
Tony Lill
Last modified: Thu Oct 16 22:40:09 EDT 2003