Bernhard Schneck wrote: >There's a package called Firewall/Plus which claims to be able to >filter lots of different protocols (I think they claimed about 600), >includung IPX, SNA and others. It's a generic filtering engine that can be programmed to "understand" various packets and data formats and firewall them. Pretty slick stuff. >>From what I read about it, it seems to be a packet filter starting >at the MAC layer and working it's way up through the ethernet frame. Correct. One interesting thing about it is that it can act like a bridge, rather than a router (as most IP firewalls do). Since it's handling potentially non-routed protocols, I guess that's the only way to do it. >I've never used or evaluated it yet, though. If someone (independent >from the vendor, with a reputable name in the field :-) has, I'd sure >like to hear about her/his results. I did some testing of one in 1995, back when it was a DOS program rather than an NT application. This was part of a design review I did for hire by the folks at Network-1. Basically, they asked me to pound on their product and suggest ways to improve on it. There was a lot to like about the firewall and fairly little to dislike. I think the reason we don't see more of them is lack of effective marketing and the fact that they were a late entry into the market. Their NT version was late, too, so they never got sufficient attention. Things I liked/didn't like: (This is based on a 4 year old eval) Liked: The fact that it acts like a bridge not a router. It's hard to launch attacks against something that doesn't admit it's there. Didn't like: At that time there was no way to manage it remotely. I do not know if this has changed. Liked: User interface was very powerful for a person who knows networking Didn't like: User interface was too complex for a person who does not know networking Loved: Comes with template policies that can be applied: "extremely restrictive security" "permissive outgoing security" etc. Liked: The one I looked at ran on DOS: this took guts. It probably hurt them terribly in the market. Definitely a product worth taking a look at. Make your own decision. mjr. -- Marcus J. Ranum, CEO, Network Flight Recorder, Inc. work - http://www.nfr.net home - http://www.clark.net/pub/mjr
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:58:08 PDT