Firewall opinions wanted please

Wed Mar 17 03:33:02 UTC 2004

In message <200403170238.i2H2caAA006011 at turing-police.cc.vt.edu>, Valdis.Kletni
eks at vt.edu writes:
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>On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:27:16 PST, Nicole <nmh at daemontech.com>  said:
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>>  From what I have heard a proxy firewall would be best? 
>
>I'll go out on a limb here and say that the actual make and model of the
>firewall don't matter anywhere *near* as much as a proper understanding on the
>client's part of what a firewall can and can't do.

You're not going out on a limb; you're absolutely right, and I've been 
saying that for years.  I'll quote myself:

   Although firewalls are a useful part of a network security
   program, they are not a panacea. When managed properly, they
   are useful, but they will not do everything. If
   firewalls are used improperly, the only thing they buy you
   is a false sense of security.

Beyond that, different security policies have a much greater impact 
than different brands or types of firewalls.  

		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb