ABSTRACT
A panel of distinguished experts in computer securityrepresenting firewall vendors, government organizations, consultants, and educators-meet online to discuss firewalls and their uses.
In the 1970s, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency fostered the development of the Arpanet, which began as a modest network for academic and research use. Arpanet has blossomed into today’s Internet, which is becoming an essential tool for personal, commercial, and government information sharing. The Internet’s increasing popularity has brought with it a downside: more-and-more
severe-security risks. With initial funding from the US government, the computer security community has developed products called firewalls that help protect users’ systems from harm when they connect to the Internet and other networks beyond their control. Dozens of commercial firewall products on the market worldwide are enjoying healthy sales. At the request of guest editors Deborah Cooper and Charles Pfleeger, the following panel of experts met online to examine the effectiveness of firewalls and suggest improvements and alternatives that can make your system safer:
1. WHAT ARE FIREWALLS?
