Opening ports in Firewall

[Hines Dennis <Dennis.Hines () Columbia net>]

Aside from IP tunneling, what are the risks associated with opening an
outbound port, say 7100, in a firewall to support an application that makes
a direct connection to a site on the Internet (via IP address) for the
purpose of say downloading software updates.  What are the risks if the
firewall is an SPF, proxy, or packet filter - (with or without NAT).

Thanks for the insight,

Dennis

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Dennis Hines
dennis.hines () columbia net
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