RE: Firewall and DMZ topology

["Chris Berry" <compjma () hotmail com>]

> From: NC Agent <NC_Agent () kueppers-familie de>
> I'm not sure how a tri-homed firewall can be just as secure as a two
> firewall setup.  Consider this:
>
> Hacker is able to penetrate your firewall and "owns" the box.  In a
> tri-homed firewall, they now have direct access to your internal
> network.  If this had been a two firewall setup, they would have to
> compromise the second box as well.  While this may not be an issue as
> they were already sucessful in owning one firewall, hopefully you have
> your intrusion detection system tuned to a greater degree of sensativity
> in your DMZ.  And you will be able to discover this second attempt.
>
> I do think tri-homed firewalls are a good solution, but they are not as
> secure as a two firewall solution.

Well, as I said earlier I think this would really only help if you have two 
different firewalls or they'll both be compromised very quickly.  However 
this raises the administrative burden enough that in my opinion it would 
actually tend to lower your security at most companies.  In theory two 
should be better, but you have to have enough manpower to manage it properly 
which in todays budgetary environment isn't that likely.  It also depends on 
the complexity of your setup, a large company with a complicated structure 
might get more benefit than a small one with a simple structure.  More is 
not always better, I'd rather stick with KISS in most situations, but that's 
mostly a matter of opinion.

Chris Berry
compjma () hotmail com
Systems Administrator
JM Associates

"Within every man beats a heart of darkness." --The Shadow

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