Internet Firewalls

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consuming process made all the easier by programs which systematically try all character combinations until the correct one is eventually generated. User-IDs and passwords can also be trapped by finding security holes in programs; a person looking to abuse the Internet finds these holes and uses the information leaked through them for his or her own personal agenda. Even someone who has been entrusted with high-level network access, such as a system administrator, can misuse his or her authorization to gain access to sensitive areas by impersonating other users.

Eavesdropping - By making a complete transcript of network activity, sensitive data such as passwords, data, and procedures for performing certain functions can be obtained. Eavesdropping is can be accomplished through the use of programs that monitor the packets of information transmitted across the network; or, less often, by tapping network circuits in a manner similar to telephone wiretapping. Regardless of ...

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access to corporate and personal information. These instances do occur and care should be taken to guard against them. This is the function of a firewall: To provide a barrier between an Internet server and anyone intent on invading its sensitive data.

Countering the Threat with a Firewall
As the name implies, an Internet Firewall is a system set up specifically to shield a Web site from abuse and to provide protection from exposure to inherently insecure services, probes, and attacks from other computers on the network. A Firewall can be thought of as a pair of mechanisms: one, which exists to block traffic, and the other that exists to permit traffic. Some firewalls place a greater ...

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