RE: Distributed Firewall

["David Gillett" <gillettdavid () fhda edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kendric [mailto:Kendric () hotpop com]
>
> Hi, just wondering if any of you guys heard of this concept 
> of distributed
> firewall? I have done some research on it and found it to be quite a
> wonderful concept into bringing the firewall platform to each 
> client/server
> end with a central management policy. In other words, it is 
> like having a
> personal firewall on each individual machine, but centrally 
> managed by a
> remote management console. In this way, we will not have to 
> put any trust
> even on the machines on the intranet. Any comments?

  I think the idea probably has some merit as part of a "defence
in depth" approach.
  But I don't think it's sufficient on its own, because the
resources that need to be protected do not exist just on the
individual machines.  The network which connects them -- upon
which this approach DEPENDS rather heavily! -- lies outside 
the boundary of what can be protected this way.

  A network which includes both gateway firewalls and individual 
host security is going to be a harder nut to crack than a network
that relies on only one or the other approach.  And centralised
administration of individual-host firewalls is an idea whose time
is surely here.

David Gillett



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