Dan,
Setting up a firewall would be nice. But from my experience the bigger risk
is from email based viruses.
For my nickel I'd first make sure you have a virus checker linked to your
email server and to your client PC's with up to date signature files. Then
I'd consider the firewall issue. The problem with the firewall issue is
finding an effective firewall product for such a small company.
The three major firewall products that I'm aware of are:
1) Cisco makes a very fast firewall box called the "PIX" ... but the "Baby
PIX" unit is around $ 5,000 and a standard PIX unit is closer to $ 10,000.
These prices are for hardware/software ONLY and do not include
implementation.
2) RAPTOR is another highly rated firewall product. Figure approx $
4,000-$ 5,000 for software plus $ 2,000 for a box plus implementation.
3) Checkpoint software. Figure approx $ 5,000 for the software plus $
2,000 for the hardware ... plus implementation.
Of the three the PIX box is the fastest, Checkpoint is normally second, and
RAPTOR is third.
Then you have all the smaller packages, many of which are LINUX based or
router based NAT/Firewalls. A number of these products are legit. The
problem is that unless you know what you are doing they are not a slam dunk
to setup.
No matter how you slice it none of these products are "Plug and Play" for a
novice computer person to setup so you end up hiring a consultant to setup
the box and it seems like every consultant has their own "Favorite" for a
firewall product.
My advice ? Find a larger, reputable consulting firm with lots of installed
customers and multiple technicians on staff and avoid the one man shops for
this kind of product. Whether you spend $ 1,000 or $ 5,000 for the software
+ Hardware what has the potential for costing you the most money is the
consultants fees. By going with a larger firm if your technician drops
dead or finds a new job there will be someone else on staff who can step in
and take care of things.
Personally, for a small company ... I would call a Gold or Silver level
CISCO dealer and get a price on (1) a router based solution and (2) a PIX
based solution. They can pre-configure the box and send it to you and if
there are any problems they can dial in on a backup modem line and
reconfigure the box without having to be onsite. You may pay more for the
hardware up front but in the long run you will probably pay less in
consulting fees.
Good Luck
Todd Anderson
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Shallbetter [mailto:dans@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 11:44 AM
To: 'vantage@egroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Todd as I understand it we get out to the internet through our old 56k dial
up connection to a local ISP. The ISP dial-up server type is a PPP running
TCP/IP network protocol. Is this the info you were aftr?
Dan Shallbetter
-----Original Message-----
From: Todd Anderson [mailto:tanderson@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 11:15 AM
To: 'vantage@egroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Dan,
Before I give you an answer to this question ...
Specifically how are you connecting to the Internet ?
Todd Anderson
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Shallbetter [mailto:dans@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 8:48 AM
To: 'Vantage@...'
Subject: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Looking for some advise. We are a very small company running Small Business
Server 4.5. We use a dial up connection for internet connection and also to
retrieve our e-mail. We do not host a web page. Do I need a firewall? Or can
proxy be configured to provide adequate protection? What are my exposures I
need to worry about? What do others use?
TIA
Dan Shallbetter
States Electric Mfg.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Setting up a firewall would be nice. But from my experience the bigger risk
is from email based viruses.
For my nickel I'd first make sure you have a virus checker linked to your
email server and to your client PC's with up to date signature files. Then
I'd consider the firewall issue. The problem with the firewall issue is
finding an effective firewall product for such a small company.
The three major firewall products that I'm aware of are:
1) Cisco makes a very fast firewall box called the "PIX" ... but the "Baby
PIX" unit is around $ 5,000 and a standard PIX unit is closer to $ 10,000.
These prices are for hardware/software ONLY and do not include
implementation.
2) RAPTOR is another highly rated firewall product. Figure approx $
4,000-$ 5,000 for software plus $ 2,000 for a box plus implementation.
3) Checkpoint software. Figure approx $ 5,000 for the software plus $
2,000 for the hardware ... plus implementation.
Of the three the PIX box is the fastest, Checkpoint is normally second, and
RAPTOR is third.
Then you have all the smaller packages, many of which are LINUX based or
router based NAT/Firewalls. A number of these products are legit. The
problem is that unless you know what you are doing they are not a slam dunk
to setup.
No matter how you slice it none of these products are "Plug and Play" for a
novice computer person to setup so you end up hiring a consultant to setup
the box and it seems like every consultant has their own "Favorite" for a
firewall product.
My advice ? Find a larger, reputable consulting firm with lots of installed
customers and multiple technicians on staff and avoid the one man shops for
this kind of product. Whether you spend $ 1,000 or $ 5,000 for the software
+ Hardware what has the potential for costing you the most money is the
consultants fees. By going with a larger firm if your technician drops
dead or finds a new job there will be someone else on staff who can step in
and take care of things.
Personally, for a small company ... I would call a Gold or Silver level
CISCO dealer and get a price on (1) a router based solution and (2) a PIX
based solution. They can pre-configure the box and send it to you and if
there are any problems they can dial in on a backup modem line and
reconfigure the box without having to be onsite. You may pay more for the
hardware up front but in the long run you will probably pay less in
consulting fees.
Good Luck
Todd Anderson
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Shallbetter [mailto:dans@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 11:44 AM
To: 'vantage@egroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Todd as I understand it we get out to the internet through our old 56k dial
up connection to a local ISP. The ISP dial-up server type is a PPP running
TCP/IP network protocol. Is this the info you were aftr?
Dan Shallbetter
-----Original Message-----
From: Todd Anderson [mailto:tanderson@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 11:15 AM
To: 'vantage@egroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Dan,
Before I give you an answer to this question ...
Specifically how are you connecting to the Internet ?
Todd Anderson
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Shallbetter [mailto:dans@...]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 8:48 AM
To: 'Vantage@...'
Subject: [Vantage] Off topic (firewall)
Looking for some advise. We are a very small company running Small Business
Server 4.5. We use a dial up connection for internet connection and also to
retrieve our e-mail. We do not host a web page. Do I need a firewall? Or can
proxy be configured to provide adequate protection? What are my exposures I
need to worry about? What do others use?
TIA
Dan Shallbetter
States Electric Mfg.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
eGroups Sponsor
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=102308.1038796.2731130.908943/D=egroupmail/S=17000071
83:N/A=466331/?http://www.yahoo.com> Click Here!
We no longer allow attachments to files. To access/share Report Files,
please go to the following link: http://www.egroups.com/files/vantage/
<http://www.egroups.com/files/vantage/>
(Note: If this link does not work for you the first time you try it, go to
www.egroups.com, login and be sure to save your password, choose My Groups,
choose Vantage, then choose Files. If you save the password, the link above
will work the next time you try it.)