Hi folks,
I've recently had customers coming up more and more with the "Secured
operating system" question. That is ... what is the benefit of having a
specially secured operating system on a machine which no one is going to be
logging in to?
Now, I have my own opinions on this one, but i'd like a more general view from
the list (if one exists). I'm not in the business of starting a holy war, so
i'd kindof like facts only please.
Now I have a few conditions i'd like to put on the firewall host in question.
1) It sits between the internet and an internal network and all traffic goes
through it.
2) Its an application gateway (like fwtk, gauntlet, raptor, etc). There is no
packet routing going on.
3) There are no login users (except root who's access is controlled by a
securid card or other secure password scheme).
4) The only network ports enabled are pointed at proxy daemons.
5) The firewall is physically secure.
The question is ... Is there any benefit in having an MLS or specially secured
operating system on the host or will a standard opsys meeting these criteria
do?
Like I said, I have my own opinions, but i'm going to reserve them for now,
i'd welcome the opinion of the list.
Thanks!
...Les...
"Seeing if his logic is correct :-)"
+-----------------------------------------------+
| Les Carleton Firewalling Consultant / "The Software Lifeguard"
| These are my views ... not my employer's / les @
tracker .
demon .
co .
uk
| /
+-------------------------------------------+
"Open Standards ... Free Software ... Live Free or Fry!"
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