Security of electronic systems is important but no more so than for those systems connected to the Internet. For this reason we recommend all customers who are utilising the Internet to consider the following basic safety measures:

Sadly virus writers continue to plage both businesses and home users. We are happy to recommend products such as Symantec Anti virus as they provide excellent value for money. Available from many resellers these are a very quick win against attacks.

Firewall technology has developed significantly over the last 5 years. Costing anything from 30.00 to 30,000.00 they all provide protection from external attacks. The lower end of the price range are software based and would normally be loaded directly onto your PC or server. These are very efficient however for business needs can introduce a bottle neck.

Firewall Technology

The range of products available is massive. Following considerable research we have decided to provide details of 4 devices which in our opinion provide good value for money and far more importantly protect your organisation from attacks.

WatchGuard Firebox SOHO

The WatchGuard Firebox SOHO|tc is a 'Small Office Home Office' firewall, and is able to provide secure Internet connectivity for up to 25 users. The SOHO|tc is compact device, with two 10Mbps Ethernet ports; one to connect to your ADSL router or other device, and the other to connect to your internal network through a hub or direct cable connection to a PC. The SOHO|tc offers network address translation with full support for FTP and protocols such as H323 (for video conferencing with Microsoft Netmeeting). With the SOHO|tc you can use the real IP address on the Internet side of the firewall to create links through to services on your Internal network using Port Forwarding. This enables you to host a web server, SMTP or POP3/IMAP mail service or other service with your Internet connection. The SOHO|tc can also deploy a single IPSEC VPN tunnel to another SOHO|tc or Watchguard Firebox, providing secure inter-site networking.

WatchGuard Firebox 700

The WatchGuard Firebox 700 is the SOHO|tc's 'bigger brother' - with support for up to 50 users, the ability to host multiple VPN sessions and a DMZ facility. Because the WatchGuard family of products are closely integrated, the SOHO|tc can be used to connect with the Firebox to form a larger WAN network secured with VPN. This makes it ideal for site to site VPN operations, especially those with smaller branch offices where the SOHO|tc can be installed to lower overall deployment costs. The Firebox 700 is more than just a dedicated firewall: Offering extensive logging and reporting capabilities, it also provides application gateways for services such as Web, integrating with a NT or RADIUS user database to provide 'log in' security and an audit trail for Internet activities such as surfing.