Overview+of+Firewall+Technology

=Overview of Firewall Technology= Firewalls are the first line of electronic defense for all established networks. They are integral for protection against Network, Transport, and Application layer attacks which seek to undermine a company through exploits in vulnerable software. Because the software itself cannot be directly secured in a timely fashion by our staff, a firewall offers a viable alternative. In addition, firewalls are capable of acting as or with intrusion detection systems (IDS) as a secondary method of defense. These modes of protection are vital for protection of enterprise systems in which a company’s revenue is dependent.

Outside of protecting the network directly, firewalls allow functionality with Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which allow secure communications between sites. VPN’s can also be used by employees to work from home, or for customers to access secured data. To allow a secured and convenient method of trade and support to our customer’s is paramount to constructing a profitable business model. The expense of integrating hardware firewalls into the network infrastructure is counterweighted by the availability of additional (or even remote) Point-of-Sale machines and direct access to material for sales staff that much spend significant time travelling.

Firewalls also allow for the construction of a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which works with defense layering to produce a balance in security and availability. Data hosted in web servers within a DMZ are protected by a single (or single layer) firewall. Those machines with sensitive or mission critical data are secured by a second (or second layer) firewall. Customers will not need direct access to this data, and so this reduced need in availability will allow for stricter security.