Re: How to choose an IDS/FW MSS provider

["David W. Goodrum" <dgoodrum () nfr com>]

> What looks good with ISS, MSS Dept is that you have somehow the 
> X-Force support http://xfoce.iss.net ; as far as I know and tell me if 
> I am wrong, ISS is the only security provider having an R&D dept which 
> is the X-Force team.

If you mean that ISS is the only company doing R&D I'd have to disagree, 
plenty of other competent vendors out there are doing R&D. 

> Also, my question was about how to choose an IDS *AND* FW firewall. I 
> know I am a bit out of the topic of this mailing-list but you can be 
> good at IDS and maybe bad at firewalls which are much more complex 
> through.

Many IDS vendors are integrating Firewalls into their product, just like 
Firewall vendors are trying to catch up on the Layer 7 analysis.  Both 
types of technologies are coming tgether to some degree.  We've actually 
embedded pf (freebsd's firewall) into our product now.  The difference 
really will be WHERE you want to deploy and what your requirements are.  
For example, most companies with IPS products (such as ISS, NFR, etc), 
are generally implemented in a "bridging" mode.  i.e. even though they 
are doing firewalling, they are still invisible to the network and don't 
require changes to the network architecture to implement them.  Bridging 
firewalls are probably not what you want on the perimeter, and so you 
should look to a more traditional firewall.   Traditional firewalls are 
not invisible, meaning they can do more traditional firewall roles 
including NAT, routing, and other fun stuff.  The downside there is that 
they are also exposed to attack. 

What I'm getting at is that Defense in Depth still applies, even though 
these two technologies seem to be coming together rather quickly.  If 
you deploy a true routing firewall on your perimeter, you should protect 
it with an invisible IPS product (there have been plenty of cases of 
routing firewalls being compromised).  Internally, when you create your 
quarantine areas, most organizations don't require advanced firewalling 
features such as NAT and routing.  In those cases, it might be a good 
fit for a bridging firewall (like today's IPS vendors).

Does anybody care about best of breed anymore?

> PS: and once again, ISS is in the gane for 10 long years. What about 
> the competitors?
NFR was founded in 1996 and still chugging away.  ;)

> Thanks,
>
> Stephane

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--
David W. Goodrum
Senior Systems Engineer
NFR Security
703.731.3765


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