Re: Dealing with MS Netmeeting & H.323

[Frederick M Avolio <fred () avolio com>]

> I don't consider it a huge risk for outgoing calls, when handled *PROPERLY*
> by a stateful filter. And to make it scalable, you would appreciate the low
> latency
> and high throughput that SPFs tend to have. Of course, YCMMV (C=customer's)
> ;)

Speed at the expense of security processing? I'm not sure what *can* be
usefully done with H.323, but outgoing calls, while probably at a lower
risk, are still at risk. Granted, the inside user is inviting a connection
from the outside (which is what the SPF is using for decision making), but
once that connection is established and allowed, any vulnerability would
still exist. If a vulnerability exists, the inside user is then in the
position -- whether he realizes it -- of granting someone on the outside
access to his computer or the inside network. 

A long-winded way of saying, "Yes, the risk is less, but not substantially
less."

Fred