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Firewall Solutions

Various vendors are offering a whole suite of firewalls and security solutions. They include companies such as Cisco, Computer Associates, Symantec, etc. Here are some popular firewall products these companies offer Cisco

Cisco offers an entire range of security products. Here's an overview of two popular ones: Cisco IOS firewall and Cisco Secure PIX.

Cisco Secure PIX
The Cisco Secure PIX firewall is a dedicated firewall appliance in Cisco's firewall family and holds the top rank in both market-share and performance. The Cisco Secure PIX Firewall delivers strong security and creates little to no network performance impact. The product line enforces secure access between an internal network and Internet, extranet, or intranet links. The Cisco Secure PIX Firewall scales to meet a range of customer requirements and network sizes and is available in five models.

All four Cisco Secure PIX Firewall models have IPSEC encryption built-in, permitting both site-to-site and remote access VPN deployments, and operate on a hardened operating system focused on protecting both the security of the device and the network it protects.

Cisco IOS Firewall
The Cisco IOS Firewall provides robust, integrated firewall and intrusion detection functionality for every perimeter of the network. Available for a wide range of Cisco IOS software-based routers, the Cisco IOS Firewall offers sophisticated security and policy enforcement for connections within an organization (intranet) and between partner networks (extranets), as well as for securing Internet connectivity for remote and branch offices.

Network Associates
NA offers a range of products that combine antivirus and firewall services and are ideal for managing the network security from a single console. Also, they keep an additional check on viruses, something that firewalls lack.

PGP e-ppliances
PGP e-ppliances are a complete security solution for networks ranging in size from a single telecommuter to a large enterprise with thousands of users. With a single point of contact, PGP Security reduces technical support complexity and provides additional security services.

The auto update firmware retrieves the latest files to maintain the highest level of security and protects the network from newly discovered hacker attacks.

Virus scanning ensures your desktops download the latest DAT files to protect your network from harmful virus mutations.

Gauntlet Firewall 6.0
Gauntlet Firewall can guard one door or many doors, making it ideal for protecting small, medium, or large size networks with one site or multiple sites around the world. Gauntlet ensures privacy of communications for securely transferring data between multiple sites and remote users.

Gauntlet uses the Internet to send encrypted data from the gatekeeper at the main door to traveling employees, off-site engineers, and other corporate sites.

Netscreen Technologies
Netscreen offers a line of firewall and VPN solutions. These solutions are resilient platforms and are scalable for large organization and service providers.

NetScreen's full-featured firewall uses technology based on stateful inspection, securing against intruders and denial-of-service attacks. NetScreen's custom-built GigaScreen ASIC processes the firewall access policies and encryption algorithms in hardware; providing significantly higher performance than software-only solutions.

Symantec
Symantec offers various security solutions to protect your network from hackers and other backdoor attacks.

Symantec Desktop Firewall 2.0
This firewall helps in protecting the rapidly growing population of remote and mobile users from hacker attacks and prevents these systems from being used by hackers to gain entry into large networks. Some of the key features are:

Can be deployed rapidly to protect mobile users and telecommuters from hackers.
Secures corporate networks from attacks via remote connections.
Remote installation and automatic configuration.
Supports leading VPN environments.

Symantec Desktop Firewall 2.0 enables administrators to quickly roll out a highly effective solution that works intelligently in the background, monitoring both inbound and outbound communications. It is also optimized for always-on broadband connections such as DSL and cable modems that are favored by mobile users, it is the ideal solution for securing today's remote communications.

Norton Personal Firewall 2001
Personal Firewall 2001 helps in protecting your networks against hackers and other Internet threats, and also provides security for your PC and privacy for your personal information. This firewall software controls all Internet connections to and from your computer and alerts you to attempted intrusions. You can also use Norton Personal Firewall to prevent personal data from being sent to websites without your knowledge, and to block Java applets, ActiveX controls, and cookies from unfamiliar sites.

Some of the key features:

Keep your personal information private.
Stay protected against unauthorized access.
Easy to install, configure and use.

Computer Associates
eTrust is an easy to manage security solution that provides both perimeter and internal protection. eTrust has a unified console for enterprise-class manageability making it easy to deploy your firewalls throughout the enterprise. The technology also provides organizations with the most intuitive firewall rule analyzer in the industry. This firewall also comes with features such as packet inspection technology and supports all application protocols. Key features include:

Visualization: Intuitive drag-and-drop network policy changes.
Central Policy Definition: Consistent security throughout the enterprise.
TCP State Aware Packet Filtering: Intelligent, robust protection.
Alerting and Reporting: Central monitoring of multiple firewalls.
Calendar Support: Timely activation and deactivation of firewall rules.

IBM
IBM's SecureWay Firewall enables safe, secure e-business by controlling all communications to and from the Internet. This firewall contains three critical firewall architectures filtering, proxy, and circuit level gateway to provide customers both a high-level of security and flexibility. The main features are:

Three firewalls in one allows you to optimize security and performance through the choice of filtering, circuit gateway or application gateway.
Network Security Auditor proactively scans the firewall and other hosts to find potential security exposures.
Disables unsafe applications to ensure a secure platform for the firewall.
Provides seamless Internet access using standard client software.
Provides easy and secure administration; centrally manages and configures multiple firewalls.
Eliminate the need for expensive leased lines by using the Internet as a virtual private network.

Cyberguard
The Mumbai-based MIEL offers CyberGuard's KnightSTAR, STARLord and FireSTAR firewall solutions in India. These are easy-to-use appliance firewalls primarily targeted at banks, financial institutions, corporations and governments.

These firewalls combine the highest level of security with a Unix kernel designed to comply with NSA B2 specifications. Additionally, they are easy to install, get it out of the box and just plug it into your network. Also, these firewalls are obsolesce-proof NSA B2-compliat Unix insures the firewall against newer loopholes or threats.

The STARLord provides comprehensive security for high-bandwidth data centers, Web hosting and ISP/ASP markets while KnightSTAR is meant for large enterprises, data centers, and service providers. The FireSTAR is designed for mid-sized growing network environments, typically SME etc.

Mahesh Rathod can be reached at rathodmp@hotmail.com