Re: firewall survey

[Nathaniel Hall <halln otc edu>]

> 1.  Does your institution/organization use a firewall at the 
> enterprise level (institution-wide)?

Yes

> 2.  Do you use a commercial product or a self-built product?

Commercial

> 3.  Is your firewall considered to be a hardware appliance or a 
> software solution?

We have multiple of each.

> 4.  Related to question 3, do you feel that one is better than the 
> other?  Why or why not?

We understand that each firewall has its weaknesses.  That is why we 
have decided to use multiple types of firewalls.  This includes hardware 
firewalls, as well as different software firewall products.

> 5.  What factors are involved in your decision to choose a firewall?

We choose based on cost, ease of use, flexibility, stability and 
effectiveness.

> 6.  Do you have a formal management process for evaluating a firewall? 
> If so, would you be willing to share it?

Not a formal process.  We ocassionally try to see what we can get past 
the firewalls, but not on any certain time schedule

> 7.  Obviously, cost and personnel experience are major factors when 
> choosing a firewall?  Are there other factors that are just as important?

Effectiveness.  If the firewall isn't effective (i.e. it doesn't catch 
problems when there are rules to do so) it isn't worth buying.  This is, 
however, hard to test without implementing it.

Nathaniel Hall, GSEC
Intrusion Detection and Firewall Technician
Ozarks Technical Community College -- Office of Computer Networking

halln otc edu
417-447-7535