Network Lockdown Columbia SC

Posted by : Joe Rudich Networkinghed: Network lockdowndek: firewalls are only the first car in a long train of security best practices.dek: firewalls work best when they can discriminate broadly.dek: the stronger the encryption key, the less likely it will be broken.by Joe Rudich

Long before the Information Superhighway, America was linked by the Iron Roadway. Like the Internet, it was virtually impossible to accurately gauge its value or its cost. And like the engines of the Internet, the steam engines that plied the transcontinental railroad had their own security problems. They even used firewalls to solve some of them.

Firewalls of the Computer Age are devices that filter data packets sent to a private network from the Internet. Their purpose is to block unwanted packets, such as viruses or probes from hackers. The Age of Steam's firewall was a thick iron wall separating the engine compartment from passengers (the killer application). The firewall was needed because packets-or, grains-of coal dust could infiltrate the engine compartment and start a fire. Note, however, two key features of those iron firewalls: They did not cure every security problem (such as raids by bandits), and they did not protect the engineers within the locomotive.

The latter may be an especially interesting analog for today's network administrators: Even with a firewall in place, you can get burned. "I don't think you can rely on any one security technique," says Michele Delio,...

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