Rent-a-Firewall Bentonville AR

Posted by : Dan Blacharski

The risks to your network have never been greater. Hackers, crackers, and thrill-seekers lurk in every corner of the Internet. It may be the disgruntled former employee you fired last month; it may be a competitor trying to steal secrets; or it may be a complete stranger just breaking in for the fun of it.

To keep them out, you use a firewall--a hardware or software device that filters out everything that comes into your network according to a pre-reconfigured set of rules. Using those rules, you decide what type of traffic is allowed in, who is allowed in, and what they are allowed to do once they get there. Rules can be configured both ways, too--to keep your employees from accessing inappropriate Web sites, for example.

But deploying a firewall doesn't necessarily mean installing and maintaining one in-house. More and more companies, especially small businesses with limited security expertise, are opting to let third parties manage their firewalls for them.

In-house or outsource?

Deciding whether or not to maintain a firewall in-house or use a managed service may not be easy. Two questions are key: First, is this security function strategic to your business? A bank or financial services firm may want to retain user authentication services in-house in order to maintain control over its home banking services. Second, is security a core competency, or do you have skilled security people on staff? ...

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