A 12 STEP PROGRAM TO SECURING YOUR SMALL-TO-MEDIUM SIZE BUSINESS: STEP 4
This is the fourth in a series of twelve articles for the non-technical managers at small to medium sized companies who operate smaller networks and may lack a sophisticated in-house information technology department.
Cost: Moderate – Software is free but effective tuning takes time
Technology skill level: Moderate to High depending on selected approach
Participants: Technical support
Why do it?
A firewall performs much the same job as a security guard at a public building. It examines the messages coming into your system from the Internet as well as the messages you send out. The firewall determines if these messages should continue on to their destination or be stopped. The firewall “guard” can greatly reduce the volume of unwanted and malicious messages allowed into your network, but it takes time and effort to set one up and maintain it. Firewalls can also prevent many forms of undesirable access to your network.
The hard part is defining the rules–what is allowed to enter and exit your system. If you let nothing in and nothing out (deny-all firewall strategy), communication with the Internet is effectively disconnected. Since that is not practical for most small businesses, additional work is required. Some firewall products let you easily review each information message (packet) so that you can decide what to do with it. When you are shopping for a firewall, look for this review feature because it can be quite helpful. Practically speaking, it is not easy to decide which traffic is acceptable and which is not. Get technical assistance (see Step 12) to help you identify normal usage for your organization and establish rules to block all other network traffic.
Firewalls can also be used to enforce an acceptable use policy by blocking content access to websites considered inappropriate by the business, such as pornography and gambling.
What Happens without a Firewall?
With nothing in place to check information coming into and out of your network, you are totally reliant on each individual user to Step good e-mail and download habits (see Step 2) to protect the network from viruses and worms. If you are using a high-speed Internet connection such as DSL or cable, you are also dependent on the other subscribers to your service.
Without a firewall, potential attackers can quickly scrutinize each available computer on the network to locate vulnerabilities (see Step 
and attack.
Getting Started
Install an individual firewall on every machine and set it up to block traffic for all services except those specifically used on the machine (see Step 5).
Educate your employees as to the value of the firewall so they will help you refine the rules instead of disabling it when a change in the implemented rules is needed. While the firewall rules are being crafted, there will be instances of over-blocking, making the use of some computer services more difficult.
Additional Steps
Get technical help to establish one or more firewalls for the network based on the configuration.
Establish a security policy to be implemented by rules in the firewall that will define what is wanted and unwanted content within the network. Provide a process for adjusting the security policy for approved exceptions.
Educate employees as to the value of a centralized solution and establish a mechanism for monitoring and changing the rule over time to meet new needs of the organization.
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November 08 2009 05:15 pm | Other
