Have you own Secure Gateway

The general assumption among some users is that if antivirus software installed and running on their computers they are somehow immune to unwanted intrusions. The truth is that invasions may come in many forms. This article explains the need to have secure gateways or servers on our networks that monitor the flow of information in and out of our network and provide greater security.

In the fast paced society in which we live, convenience is the hallmark of everyday life. This includes access to information and services at your fingertips as opposed to driving miles to a particular store or facility. The internet provides that kind of facility by allowing remote access to goods and services. By choosing the connvenience of remote access there is a tradeoff in terms of loss of security. The question then becomes, how we can to minimize the extent of that loss of security. In the days when we use a single computer in our homes and logged on to a remote system to get our mail, we had only one port of entry and exit of data to protect. Today most of our homes and businesses have multiple computers linked in networks, which makes the situation risky for a number of reasons.

First on a network there now a number of ports of exit from which an attack can be launched. If the access is closed as was the case with single user systems over phone lines in the past, there is no open access. By adding connections for legitimate users, we are also adding more vulnerability points to our systems. Secondly, by extending the physical perimeter of system incoming and outgoing messages can be of unknown origins. Our outgoing messages are now exposed to all systems on the network. We therefore have to use more caution.

Thirdly, our single user system allowed a login and password and allows one point of entry and exit which can be easily protected. Network computers, on the other hand allow many services such as logins, file transfers, disk access, remote execution, phonebook facilities, system status, and much more. This situation opens many more complex points to be monitored and difficult to protect. When these systems were initially developed, global expansion was not the horizon. At this time in our history, the expansion was not foreseen and the consequences of the lack of fore sight have left many systems dead in the water. Many networks are not isolated entities. They in themselves link to other larger systems or similar size systems to exchange information. This sharing of information requires that the associated system be trusted and secure.

In these circumstances, one computer on the network serves as the communication system within each community. This computer is called the “firewall gateway”. All communication coming in or out goes through one computer on the system. This computer is firewalled and checks authorization for each computer that tries to communicate with it or send messages through it. This setup is a much more secure one and provides greater protection than a network that allows all computers to access the internet on its own. By using this method we can provide special enhanced server software to manage the server security, the system status, the logins and passwords, file transfers and much more. This has been the movement for quite a while to provide more security and manage more securely the flow of information through our networks.