>
> I would be interested in hearing how checkpoint is securing their
> customers from SMTP based attacks! From what I have seen, they simply pass it
> through to a mail machine... If that mail machine happends to be running
> Sendmail 4.1, the attacker can blow holes right through the perimiter....?
>
Part of the services offered by many of the resellers of firewalls include
securing the operating system that a firewall runs on. This can include
enabling the box with a store-and-forward mailer, removing funky services,
putting Sendmail in a non-interactive mode, etc.
That is why people should be careful with who they ultimately select
to sell them firewall software. Quite some time ago I suggested the
analogy that you wouldn't buy a car from a dealer that had no clue
how to service the thing. The same should be true about firewalls
(no...not that you shouldn't buy a firewall from a dealer that
has no clue how to service cars...but you should buy a firewall from
a vendor that you are confident can both help install and secure the
machine and support the related infrastructure around it...).
I think it is terrific that CheckPoint has made a patch available to
address the SYN attack problems. I don't think it makes it the best
firewall out there, though it definately is a feather in their cap.
Selecting a firewall comes down to a few basic things (in no particular
order):
1) it must support the services that you need
2) it must be affordable
3) it must be secure
4) it has to make sense
I could talk to five different people in a day and using these 4 points,
we could decide on five different firewalls because of the criteria
the people have. With all due respect to the list, I doubt you'll get
a generic "which one is better" answer from here because no one's network
and security needs are the same. You need to call some capable VARs for
the products you are interested in and talk to them about how the products
will solve the four points above.
There...now that I said it all, I guess everyone can unsubscribe from
this list....assuming anyone ever figures out how! 8^)
-Rick
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Rick E Romkey | A T L A N T I C | Internet
pokey @
atlantic .
com | Computing Technology Corporation | Specialists
(860) 667-9596 | http://www.atlantic.com/ |
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