A perimeter firewall protects a local private network from threats originating on the Internet or other external networks. But what protects from threats that arise from within the local network, such as unauthorized user access and the spread of viruses, worms and trojans? It is an unfortunate fact that most security problems arise from within the so called "protected" local network. For large enterprise networks the perimeter firewall is no longer enough; servers, confidential information and business critical systems need to be protected from other computers and users. SmoothWall Advanced Firewall, operating as an internal firewall, is the solution.
SmoothWall Advanced Firewall allows the local network to be segregated into many physically isolated network zones, with the firewall strictly controlling what traffic can pass between zones. Advanced Firewall allows no traffic to pass between zones until an inter-zone bridge has been created, which are normally created on-demand as the result of user authentication against a Microsoft Active Directory®, Novell eDirectory™ or other LDAP server. Advanced Firewall will open inter-zone bridges between the user's computer and the servers and services needed for their job function, as specified by the security policy for that user. Any attempt to access other systems or services, such as administrator access, would be blocked by Advanced Firewall.
Inter-zone bridges restrict user access to the minimum necessary to perform their job function. Only the security policies for administrators and system managers would allow for the creation of inter-zone bridges to services that could be used to re-configure or attack systems. Not only does this mechanism block unauthorized user access but also restricts the spread of viruses, worms, and trojans between zones. For example, by segregating laptop users into a dedicated zone, should a laptop user bring a virus or worm into work with them, it would not be able to traverse the zone boundary and infect other systems.
Using high performance server hardware, Advanced Firewall can support a maximum of 20 physical network interfaces, which for high density applications can be dual or quad port Gigabit Ethernet cards. For interoperability with existing Virtual LAN (VLAN) networks, Advanced Firewall can operate as a VLAN router using 802.1Q VLAN trunk ports.
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