Firewall

Firewalls remain the primary security control protecting the corporate network from the Internet. It provides the ability to determine access control privileges between different zones of trust (e.g. trusted internal users, partially trusted demilitarised zones and untrusted Internet zones), allowing all other security to be added. Without a firewall, a defence in depth strategy is not truly possible.

Firewalls have evolved beyond simple packet filters. With the increasing complexity of networks and business requirements, vendors have developed different types of firewalls to address the changing needs. Example firewall types include:

• Packet filtering;
• Application proxying;
• Layer 2 bridging; and
• Stateful inspection (deep packet inspection).

Firewalls have also evolved to include additional security features:

• Intrusion detection and prevention;
• VPN termination;
• Application intelligence;
• Traffic shaping and management; and
• Authentication systems

The above list are all features commonly available on commercial firewalls

Determining the type of firewall best suited to your organisation requires a strong understanding of business requirements and information security principles. Content Security, can provide specialist advice to suit a firewall to your business' needs. Our specialisation in information security provides a strong background to provide consulting services in:

• Secure network architecture design;
• Deployment;
• Maintenance; and
• Auditing