Network Security Firewalls and VPNs 3rd Edition are increasingly being used by organizations to protect their internal networks from intruders. These devices are installed at the perimeter of the organization’s network, usually between the Internet and the internal corporate network. They provide protection against external attacks that come in through various ports, protocols, and services.
Many network security firewalls now have intrusion detection capabilities built into them. This allows them to monitor network traffic for suspicious activities. If such activities are detected, they can take the appropriate action immediately. Rather than waiting until the end-user reports a problem (as is the case with host-based intrusion detection systems). However, it should be noted that many small businesses do not have enough money to spend on these types of solutions.
The most popular devices that provide this type of protection
Cisco PIX firewall: One of the most popular firewalls on Cisco’s router platform. It is available in both hardware and software versions; however, only the hardware version is covered here
CheckPoint Firewall-1: This is a popular software firewall application from CheckPoint Software Technologies. Further, is loaded on top of an existing firewall device (such as a router or a switch)
Juniper Networks ScreenOS: A firewall operating system for routers and switches
Sygate Personal Firewall: A Windows GUI application for personal computer users that does not require any additional hardware to operate
How do you choose which Network Security Firewall /VPN?
The first thing you need to consider when selecting a network security firewall/VPN solution for your organization is what all devices it supports, what features it has, and how easy it is to install and use. A good rule of thumb is to select a device that is supported on the operating system your organization is running. For example, if your organization uses Windows XP in the work environment, you would want to go with a firewall/VPN solution that supports Windows XP as well.
How do Network Security Firewalls work?
Network security firewalls can be broken down into two categories: stateful inspection firewalls and proxy-based firewalls. Both of these types of firewalls are designed to be used by organizations that need to protect their internal networks from external network intruders.
Stateful inspection (also known as stateful packet inspection (SPI) ) firewalls use connection tracking information to allow or deny packets into a protected network. This type of firewall can be either hardware or software-based.
What are VPNs?
A VPN is a private network that uses the public telecommunication network to connect remote sites or users together. This type of network uses virtual tunneling protocols and encryption technologies to make the data transmitted securely. VPNs can be either remote-access (connecting a computer to a network) or site-to-site (connecting two networks). VPNs can be either remote-access (connecting a computer to a network) or site-to-site (connecting two networks).
They are most often used by small and medium-sized businesses, but they are increasingly being adopted by large enterprises, service providers, and educational institutions. There are two basic types of VPNs: PPTP and L2TP. PPTP is an older technology that is built into the Windows operating system (and does not require any additional software).
L2TP is more secure than PPTP because it implements encryption techniques that provide confidentiality and prevent data tampering. L2TP is included in many operating systems, such as Windows 2000 and later, Mac OS X 10.3 and later, and other Unix variants. In addition to these two types of VPNs, you may also come across SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol), which was originally developed by Microsoft but has since been open-sourced; however, SSTP is not supported by every VPN client on the market today.