3Com Product Guide P14[Back to main Web Solutions page]
Firewalls and Internet Security
3Com Product Guide P14
Network security.
With the large-scale take up of 'always on' Internet access methods such as ADSL and Cable Modems, securing your network from the dangers of the outside world becomes a high priority. This is usually achieved by using a firewall; a barrier you place between your private network and the Internet. The firewall is configured to discriminate between safe and unsafe network traffic; either by virtue of the type of traffic, the direction it is moving, or its origin or destination.
Risks
As with any security system, a sensible first step is to determine what the risks are. You may consider that anyone attached to your company's cabling network is 'safe', and that anyone outside the company is 'suspect'. But what about your regional office? Or your in-house wireless network?
What are the threats? Hackers? Industrial spies? You may decide your data is not very likely to be of interest to outsiders, but what about vandalism or 'denial of service' attacks? You could end up with a complete loss of systems because of a bored twelve-year-old playing on the Internet.
If you want to know whether your PC or network is secure, you could Click Here to run the excellent Gibson Research Shields-Up tests (in a separate window). This will indicate whether your IP Ports are accessible from the Internet. The GRC site also contains masses of Internet security information.
3Com Firewalls
3Com firewalls have been designed to combat the most common threats that can occur with the least amount of configuration. The basic attack methods are dealt with by the firewalls 'straight out of the box'. But other more sophisticated dangers will require a good understanding of the Internet Protocol to allow configuration. The higher the risks, the more configuration work will be needed.
In addition to the range of perimeter hardware devices, 3Com also offer a distributed internal LAN firewall product that runs on the network cards in your PCs. 3Com Embedded Firewall controls access, filters and encrypts communications based on a centrally managed policy. More details can be found at the bottom of this page.
All 3Com hardware firewalls support a facility known as Network Address Translation that allows a number of users to share a single-user connection. This means that however many user addresses your router or other access device supports, the firewall will use just a single address to support its own maximum user base.
Web site filtering
In addition to securing your network from the Internet, you may also be faced with the need to secure access to parts of the Internet from your LAN users. This is particularly important if you supply Internet access to children; in a school or library, for example. 3Com firewalls have an optional feature known as a web site filter that allows you to exclude access to web sites not just by name, but by their nature or content. The web site filter would allow you to switch off access to sites by category, such as Racism or Sexual content. A huge, centrally compiled and updated database keeps track of the content of web sites and this is compared to your selected filter categories before allowing access.
Virtual Private Networking
Finally, what do you do if you have users outside your network that you want to have access, without opening your site to attack? Using a method known as Virtual Private Networking, you can create a safe, encrypted 'tunnel' between your remote user and your network. VPN capability is standard on the Superstack 3 firewall, and an option on the Office Connect units. VPN can also be used as a way of increasing security for wireless users. By treating their access like a remote (and therefore potentially insecure) user, and forcing them to use a VPN tunnel to access your network, a very high level of security can be maintained. VPN is increasingly being used to provide site-to-site communications as well as individual remote access because costs are relatively low and security is high. Terminating the VPN tunnels at the firewall offloads encryption processing from the server and improves attack resistance due to the firewall's 'non-server' operating system, so the 3Com products help to improve overall performance and security.
Firewall Products
3Com Product Guide P14
3Com's hardware firewalls offer a range of scale from a unit suitable for a few users, to one that can support thousands.
At the lower end, the OfficeConnect Secure Router is designed for small businesses, and includes many of the features of the bigger and more expensive firewalls.
If extensive VPN usage is envisaged, or web site filter functionality is required, the OfficeConnect VPN Firewall has the hardware capability to support multiple concurrent VPN sessions.
The Superstack 3 Firewall is designed for larger businesses, and includes a DMZ port and extensive VPN capabilities as standard. Hardware-based encryption and processing make for a high performance system that can be tailored to specific requirements.
Click here
- to review the range in more detail in the Purchasing Catalogue.
Security Switches
3Com Security Switches are devices that provide a platform for sophisticated 3rd party security applications within a switching environment. As a single top-end security appliance, they offer corporate and enterprise customers a manageable system for dealing with all the main Internet security threats to an organisation.
In addition to 3Com's range of
hardware firewalls, they also offer a system designed to protect your network
from inside attacks and 'backdoors'. The embedded firewall runs on the
Network Interface Cards in the PCs to provide access control, filtering and
encryption within the network. It is controlled and managed from a server
PC, where a network-wide policy is created and then loaded to the individual PCs
independently of the operating systems in use. Embedded Firewall works
with certain 3Com NICs, and the description of the software in the Purchasing
Catalogue itemises the cards that are available. Click here for details -
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