Firewalls
Using your favorite search engine, find and research a real world case where this technology is being used. What are your thoughts on the implementation? Could it be improved upon?
Firewalls
Firewall technology is a networking system that is applied in computer systems to prevent unauthorized access over the internet. The real-world case where firewall technology is being used is provided in the Open University system. The figure below presents the firewall arrangement in the university system.
The Open University-wide area network is composed of LANs that are linked to the main LAN at the university headquarter at Walton Hall. The DMZs holds the services required by students allowing the traffic that initiated by internal users or permitted user to cross the firewalls (OpenLearn, 2020). The arrangement of the Open University system allows external access to the Walton Hall LAN through the virtual private network (VPN). The VPN provides authorized users with a logical bypass to the firewall where a one-time password is used for access.
The firewall implementation approach used in the University network system incorporates in the DMZ environment and in VPN. The DMZs in the acts as a neutral zone between the university’s private network and the outside public network by providing access control and protection to the server. The VPN firewall implementation acts as a connection to remote sites by ensuring the network system is encrypted and unauthorized users cannot access the network, and data cannot be intercepted (Dandamudi & Eltaeib, 2015). The improvement on the Open University firewall can be conducted by introducing the application level firewalls and stateful multilayer firewall. The application-level based firewall are application-specific that is configured to provide protection for specific services such as library services. The stateful multilayer firewalls will improve network security through their ability to filter packets at the network layer, evaluating the content of packets, and determining the legitimacy of packets at the application layer.
References
Dandamudi, S., & Eltaeib, T. (2015). Firewalls Implementation in Computer Networks and Their Role in Network Security. Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST). Vol. 2 Issue 3. https://www.jmest.org/wp-content/uploads/JMESTN42350531.pdf
OpenLearn. (2020). Network security. Retrieved from https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/computing-and-ict/systems-computer/network-security/content-section-9.7#
