Overview; Advantages Of An Integrated Firewall - HP ProCurve Secure Router 7203 dl Advanced Management And Configuration Manual

ProCurve Secure Router OS Firewall—Protecting the Internal, Trusted Network

Overview

The Internet offers many valuable resources, often free and open to all users.
In addition, it allows businesses and consumers to reach each other more
easily than ever before. A connection to the Internet is practically mandatory
for most organizations.
However, the very advantages of the Internet—widespread access—pose
risks to private organizations. Whenever you connect your network to an
untrusted network such as the Internet, you open the door to hackers, spy-
ware, and malware. At best, viruses and spyware consume only bandwidth
and resources, costing your organization time and money. At worst, viruses
can destroy mission-critical data, spyware can intercept passwords, and
hackers can steal proprietary information and hijack network devices.
Firewalls protect a private network from these very real threats while allowing
an organization to profit from a public network's benefits. A firewall is a
collection of components configured to enforce a specific access control
policy between your internal (trusted) network and any other (untrusted)
network. A firewall filters incoming and outgoing packets to ensure that only
authorized packets pass. Often, a firewall can filter packets at several Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) levels and can enforce complex, customized
policies.
Firewalls are most often used to secure a private network that connects to the
insecure Internet, but they can enforce any access control policy between an
internal and external network—or even between two remote networks that
are part of the same organization. As organizations become increasingly
interconnected, the security and flexibility that firewalls provide will only
become more important.
The ProCurve Secure Router 7000dl Series protects WANs with an industry-
tested stateful-inspection firewall.

Advantages of an Integrated Firewall

While firewall software can protect individual PCs, a firewall integrated into
a router has several advantages:
Software firewalls often use mainstream operating systems. Attackers
study such systems for vulnerabilities. These operating systems are more
vulnerable to targeted attacks and sporadic lock ups, which can take
down your firewall and leave your network unprotected.
Overview
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