190 IBM Tivoli Remote C ontrol Across Firewalls
Introduction
A firewall is basically a security solution operating between one or more secure,
internal private networks and other (non-secure) networks or the Internet.
The main objective of a firewall is to prevent unwanted or unauthorized
communication into or out of the secure network. The concept of firewalls started
with this basic objective, but has extended its usage and functionality to the
changing needs of this corporate world.
Functionality of a firewall
Some of the objectives and functionality of the firewall as a complete enterprise
security solution include these:
1. Selective network access to authorized users from both internal and external
networks
2. Use of strong authentication techniques before granting access to sensitive
corporate data
3. Ensuring privacy and integrity of data sent a cross public networks like internet
4. Content security at the gateway to screen the malicious or unwanted content
5. Ability to detect and defeat network attacks and misuse in real time
6. Hiding internal network and conservin g IP addresses
7. Ensuring high availability of network resourc es
8. Detailed logging and accounting information of all the important network
activities across the firewall to help the administrators
Firewall tools
Following are some of the important tools and components provided by the
firewalls in order to achieve the foregoing objectives and functionality:
򐂰Packet filters
򐂰Proxy servers
򐂰Socks
򐂰Authentication
򐂰DNS and mail gateways
򐂰Network address translation
򐂰Virtual private networks
򐂰Log management