Firewall and VPN Consulting Overview
In addition to supporting a broad range of security solutions from Microsoft, Cisco, and Juniper, Progent offers expert consulting for products from other major Firewall and VPN vendors including Barracuda, Check Point Software, WatchGuard, SonicWALL, and Symantec.

Progent can help you create a comprehensive security strategy and select appropriate products from a variety of suppliers to support your security goals while staying within your budget restraints. Progent can also help you deploy Firewall/VPN products seamlessly into your network infrastructure, integrate them with hardware and software from other vendors, train your IT staff to manage and monitor them, and provide one-stop maintenance and support.

Firewall/VPN Solutions
Firewalls and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are indispensable tools for keeping your network safe from malicious attacks and unauthorized access. In general, Firewalls provide access control and user authentication and VPNs offer secure, encrypted two-way communication over untrusted media such as the Internet. Firewall/VPN solutions can be dedicated or integrated products and can be in the form of hardware appliances or software utilities. You can select relatively expensive products that offer high speed and extensive functionality or less expensive products with slower performance and minimal functionality. You can also mix and match products to fit your security strategy and IT budget.

Firewalls and VPNs make it possible to build a secure network that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by telecommuters and mobile employees, vendors, customers, partners, and the public. Today's Firewall/VPN technology allows you to assign and manage different access rights to various classes of users and to expand your network and enhance your security as your business grows and as network attacks become increasingly sophisticated.

Firewall Technology
Firewall and VPN ConsultingFirewalls control who and what has access to your network. Firewalls with stateful inspection can keep track of source and destination IP addresses and port numbers, making it possible to analyze not just isolated data packets but entire communications sessions in order to protect the network from attack and intrusion. High-end Firewalls offer defense against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks as well as protection against applications which may harbor Trojans, Spyware, worms or other malicious content. Dedicated appliances called Intrusion Protection Systems (IPS) are also available for fast and comprehensive application-level protection.

You can deploy Firewalls at remote sites, regional offices, your network perimeter, your data center, and even within your internal network in cases where you want to address regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) or Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB).

VPN Technology
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is the technology of choice for securing two-way communications over untrusted media. VPN uses encryption to prevent intruders from hijacking a data connection between two sites, between a client and a site, or between two internal network segments. Untrusted media usually means the Internet, but it can also mean an internal network segment when you wish to isolate departments such as accounting or human resources. When you deploy VPN, Firewalls are advisable at the destination points in order to verify user identity prior to granting VPN access.

Two basic types of VPN are IPsec VPN and SSL VPN. An IPsec VPN can potentially allow a user to access all network resources. An SSL VPN connects a web browser to a restricted application or set of applications based on the credentials of the user. Remote or branch offices and telecommuters typically use IPsec VPNs, and mobile employees, partners, vendors, and the public typically use SSL VPNs.

How Progent's Firewall/VPN Consultants Can Help
The variety of Firewall/VPN products and architectures makes it difficult to decide on a security solution that aligns best with your business goals. Trade-offs between security and user convenience, economy and performance, complexity and manageability, legacy solutions and new technology, are all important parts of the planning process that can make or break your security strategy. Progent's security consultants have extensive field experience deploying and supporting Firewall/VPN products from multiple vendors and can help you create a smart security solution and then implement, manage and support it. Progent's firewall consultants can provide a broad range of services including planning security policies, firewall configuration and management, troubleshooting, network traffic monitoring, performance optimization, setting up multiple security zones, hardware consolidation with integrated services appliances, OS updates, and migration from legacy to advanced firewall technology.

In addition, Progent's CISSP certified cybersecurity consultants and CISM certified security management consultants can advise you about how to design security into your business processes. Progent's CISA-certified security audit consultants can evaluate the effectiveness of your existing firewall deployment and assess the overall security of your IT environment.

To learn more about Progent's network security help, telephone Progent at 800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent. More topics of interest: