Re: Firewall Science Project

[sandeep kumar <stalwar () yahoo com>]

> Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 21:59:36 -0400
> From: "Kevin Sullivan" <KSullivan () tmlp com>
> Subject: Firewall Science Project

> Hello-

>    I am a junior at Brockton High School in Brockton, MA. I am very
> interested in computer science and it is a definate career choice
for me. I
am looking into doing my science project on firewall's this year. I
was
wondering if anyone else has seen a project done on this or if they
could
suggest some ideas for experiments. Or even if they could just
point me in
the right direction for research. Thank you very much for your time.

Kevin Sullivan



To get started on the firewalls:

keep in mind that firewalls are closely linked and proliferated
due to Internet security.
and secondly firewall are a "network security option" for computers
as oppossed to individual host computer security. Firewalls are
implemented
as access control solutions for network security. Network security
is for a group of computers in a single/multiple networks.

once again re-emphasising that Firewalls and Network security go
hand in hand. So you would need to go into basics of networking as
well. And since firewalls primarily today are used for access control
to and from Internet, which is TCP/IP based, you would need to know
basics of TCP/IP as well.

The building blocks for your firewall project would begin with 
understanding the TCP/IP and networking. From here go into the network
access controls and security, and then on to firewalls. This would
give you a good understanding of the "WHY firewalls" and "where" to
use firewalls. Then go into the "HOW" to build or configure firewalls.
and this list would be the place to ask and read about how people or
organizations implement firewall and how firewalls technology is being
integrated into other technologies and vice versa.
The "HOW" to build firewalls would give you two options, either build
a firewall from freeware software or buy a commercial firewall. 
Firewalls are configured to implement a Security Policy for an 
organization or company where they are installed. You would need to 
know what is a security policy. Your understanding of networking and 
TCP/IP would greatly help you in this. 

This should give you some clues to getting started with firewalls,
although not exhaustive, and subscribe to comp.security.firewalls
newsgroups for asking questions as you progress in your project.

hope this helps
sandeep








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