Firewalls wonderful network protection devices but

Port Security, Cisco Devices, Wireless Network, Security Breach

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Firewalls: Great Network Security Devices, but Not a “Silver Bullet” Solution

In construction, a firewall is known as a hardened divider panel between the inhospitable external environment outside and what should be protected inside. Similarly, firewalls are designed to protect computers from being accessed by illegal individuals, and for the most part, they carry this out task very well. Unfortunately, firewalls are also similar to the castles of aged when siege weapons were built to wipe out the highest walls. As the siege guns became better, the defenders were required to build them yet larger and set up moats and other protective actions. Similarly, today, hackers and so-called crackers are always trying to overcome reliability devices intended for profit, enjoyment or to get more nefarious uses such as refusal of assistance attacks simply by terrorist companies. To gain several fresh observations in this area, this kind of paper shows a review of the kind of scholarly and peer-reviewed literature concerning firewalls to provide a functioning definition, some of their capacities and what technologies are normally involved. An analysis concerning the different types of firewalls that exist and their individual pros and cons can be followed by an assessment of what positive measures could be taken to solidify a firewall. Finally, an analysis of future developments is followed by a summary of the research and significant findings inside the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

What are firewalls and their capabilities?

The definition given by Blair (2009) states simply that firewalls are “single devices utilized to enforce protection policies within a network or between sites by managing traffic flows” (para. 1). Prior to the launch of Web 2 . 0. 0, most firewalls controlled in an “allow-don’t allow” environment (Hua, 2011). Following the introduction of Web 2 . 0. 0 and a staggering array of mobile devices, providing enough firewall safety became more difficult (Hua, 2011). Firewalls fundamentally operate by blocking episodes; by contrast, so-called intrusion recognition systems (IDSs) operate simply by identifying disorders when they basically take place (Sequeira, 2003). According to this expert, “Such techniques are crucial to network reliability, but have limitations. A fire wall can stop attacks by obstructing certain port numbers, but it really does small to analyze visitors that uses allowed interface numbers. IDSs can monitor and assess traffic that passes through open ports, but usually do not prevent attacks” (Sequeira, 2003, p. 36).

Technologies engaged

Firewall technology include (a) packet-filtering; (b) application/proxy; (c) reverse-proxy and packet inspection (see Desk 1 below for pros and cons of each).

Types of firewalls and pros and cons

The first issue many companies face with respect to firewall protections if the decision whether to acquire them overall or rental them by a seller. Each of these approaches offers some advantages although both likewise carry some disadvantages too. For example , Andress (2003) information that, “With a single-vendor solution, just like Cisco Devices or Verify Point Application Technologies, you must deal with only 1 vendor and might receive deeper discounts based upon the amount of product you purchase” (p. 15). Other benefits of this approach are the need for network administrators to train on one firewall version, making updates and configurations a straightforward task (Andress, 2003). The single-vendor way, though, may not represent the optimal solution for some organizations. For example, Andress cautions that, “The vendor’s fire wall might suit your environment perfectly, but its IDS might not have the features or perhaps capability your company needs. In addition , the common features of same-vendor items might increase your security risks” (p. 15). In addition , the actual exists to get a single-vendor firewall to fail within a spectacular trend, disabling the complete network before the vendor can easily render on-site assistance, a process that could require a great deal of period (Andress, 2003).

One the decision to purchase or lease is done, the next step is picking out a firewall that is suitable towards the needs in the organization. For this purpose, a wide range of firewalls is available, which includes those set forth in Stand 1 under which provides a short description in the firewall and its corresponding positives and negatives.

Table you

Types of Firewalls and Their Respective Pros and Cons

Firewall Type

Pros

Negatives

Packet-Filtering Firewalls

The primary good thing about this type of fire wall is that they are situated in just about any device for the network. Routers, switches, cellular access factors, Virtual Private Network (VPN) concentrators, and so forth may most have the capability of being a packet-filtering firewall.

The process with packet-filtering firewalls is the fact access control lists (ACLs)

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