Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Discuss this article Flame the author     In this article Introduction Vulnerability Management Firewalls Get Hotter Control Issues Event Correlation HIP Hosts Technology Areas How We Got Here

Gone are the days when network administrators had to beg for firewalls. The firewall market is the most mature in the security industry, dating back to the mid-1990s. Firewall technology basics are well understood--even by upper management.

However, as mature as the products may be, a number of dynamics bear watching in 2003. First, our recent poll of 90 readers on security suggests that organizations are still making firewall changes. Firewall deployments/replacements ranked second only to NIDS (network-based IDS) and spam-filter deployments (see chart at right).

Second, it will be interesting to see if vendors can meet gigabit and multigigabit requirements--particularly at the core. Many of the industry's leading firewalls rely on mainstream hardware (SPARC and Intel), and we're not sure whether those architectures can provide enough power to push firewalls to, and beyond, the gigabit barrier.

Third, integration between technology types (anti-DoS, IDS and traditional infrastructure, for example) will bring new options to the enterprise. We expect firewalls to gain features, and market consolidation to continue.

What does this all mean for the enterprise? For starters, smart organizations will start looking to manage their firewall deployments more effectively. Firewalls typically serve as good network access control devices and can help protect host and infrastructure assets. However, they are often ineffective when it comes to host protection--too many operating-system and application vulnerabilities sail right past them. Moving forward, you'll need to ensure that your organization's critical assets are protected by firewalls and more asset-centric controls, such as HIPS (host-based IPS) and encryption suites, where appropriate.