Centrally managed endpoint firewalls have existed for ~4-5 years
already.
http://www.checkpoint.com/products/integrity/index.html
http://www.eeye.com/html/products/blink/index.html
http://www.sygate.com/products/sygate-enterprise-protection.htm
etc
sky
-----Original Message-----
From: coder [mailto:elite.coder@ntlworld.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 7:51 AM
To: firewalls@securityfocus.com
Subject: Firewall technology
Hello everyone,
I wanted to get the opinions of experts before I carry on
with my project. I
am curently writting a thesis on the limitations of firewall
technology,
for now it seems that firewall technology for the gateway is
pretty much
covered. However, noone seems to have focused on firewall
technology for
clients (on big networks), home firewalls such as ZoneAlarm
are useless for
a network with many PCs because it cant be managed centrally
and it asks the
user if they want to create a new rule when somthing tries to get out.
In my thesis I was going to say that these are the problems and the
solutions was to write a firewall system that can be managed
centrally (via
web interface), also for technical universities where students maybe
writting network software and using their own protocols, I
was going to see
if I could create some kind of "protocol creator" for admins.
Originally my
thesis was going to be about security corporation sized
networks, but in my
research I have come across a few other things.
IEEE802.1x and IPSec can apparently replace client-side
firewalls, I dont
really know much about those two technologies, but I am still
researching.
If these two techologies are better than client-side
firewalls and or cost
less, I shall focus my thesis on small company networks (who
cant afford
good network technology or a full-time net admin).
My thesis was going to be centered around the fact that
machines within huge
networks get infected by malware and such, either by websites or via
removable media, I am hoping that my firewall I idea would:
stop sending
keylogger and spyware details back to the "hacker" and stop
viruses/worms
spreading from the infected client.
So, what client-side technologies do corporations use (if any)?
Are there any limitations for IPSec and 802.1X?
What are your opinions on what I was saying about client-side
firewalls?
Thank you for your answers,
Davie Elliott.
