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Internet Security & Firewalls

Small- to mid-sized businesses have the same critical network security needs as large enterprises, but generally have limited resources with which to buy, install, manage, and maintain security solutions. To tackle these resource challenges, you need a solution that is designed to meet your security requirements today and grow with you as your business needs change.

WatchGuard products from WDSI offer integrated security solutions that give you layered protection and intuitive management backed by our expert guidance and support. Let us help you secure your network so you can get on with your business.

Firebox® X

The Firebox® X500, X700, X1000 and X2500 are designed for small to mid-sized businesses and central offices with traveling employees, telecommuters, or branch offices.Firebox X integrates firewall, VPN, application layer security, web filtering, spam-blocking and authentication in a single, firewall security appliance. Buy the model that fits your business and security needs today, and when your business grows or your security needs change, use license keys for a model upgrade or to add more features and services to your existing Firebox X appliance. Firebox X also integrates an Intelligent Layered Security (ILS) architecture for cooperative protection between all the security layers, and intuitive management designed to provide trouble-free security monitoring so that you can focus on your business.  Read More

Firebox® X500: Exceptional security, full model upgradeability, expandable features and services, and intuitive controls at an affordable price—for businesses with 20-100 employees. The Firebox X500 offers advanced protection against more sophisticated threats (such as Directory Harvest Attacks), and is an ideal upgrade for businesses running older-generation "NAT firewalls".

Firebox® X700: Integrated security that grows with your business: exceptional protection, full model upgradeability, expandable features and services, intuitive controls and expert support—for businesses with 50-200 employees.

Firebox® X1000: Intuitive controls, multibox management, remote connectivity, proven protection, full model upgradeability, and expandable security features and services—for businesses with 200-500 employees.

Firebox® X2500: Scalable security at great price-to-performance. Expandable features and services, centralized multibox and multi-site management, intuitive controls, and higher performance—for businesses with 500 employees and beyond.

Firebox X® Edge

All Firebox® X Edge models integrate perfectly with the Firebox X line of integrated firewall/VPN appliances to provide complete security for your geographically distributed organization. And if you run a Firebox X at your central office, enjoy the centralized management, logging, and historical reporting of WatchGuard System Manager for all your Firebox X and Firebox X Edge appliances. It keeps you in control of your security and VPNs at all of your locations. Read More

Firebox® X5: Telecommuter VPN Endpoint For telecommuters who require an easy-to-deploy firewall/VPN solution that easily connects to the central office with best-in-class performance, and separate work/home network on the same appliance. Up to 12 users. Firebox® X5w provides a 802.11b Wireless Access Point (WAP).

Firebox® X15: Small Remote Office VPN Endpoint For remote offices/small businesses with up to 30 users who require branch office VPN endpoint connectivity to a central office running a Firebox X. Includes firewall, VPN, 10-network port flexibility, configuration wizards, and intuitive remote management for the central network administrator. Firebox® X15w provides a 802.11b WAP.


Firebox® SOHO 6

Designed for small and remote offices, the Firebox® SOHO 6 and SOHO 6 Wireless firewalls are high-performance security devices that simply plug in between your CATV or DSL router and your network. In addition to dynamic stateful packet filtering, Firebox® SOHO 6 and SOHO 6 Wireless firewalls provide network address translation (NAT), optional Web content filtering, IPSec security for wireless users, and the unique LiveSecurity® Service to keep your security updated. They're your solution if you want increased employee productivity, hacker and attack prevention, and strong security at a reasonable cost. Read More

SOHO 6: Affordable firewall with high performance and intuitive Web-based management for small businesses. SOHO 6 Wireless provides a 802.11b WAP. When combined with "Preemptive Email Protection", such as WDSI's Postini Service (information below), the SOHO6 provides a powerful perimeter security solution.

SOHO 6tc & 6tc Wireless: Branch Office VPN end point with dynamic stateful packet filtering, optional IPSec Mobile User VPN, and intuitive remote management.

Important Considerations

What is "Dynamic Stateful Packet Filtering"?

Packet filtering refers to a firewall's ability to examine IP packet headers to determine a source packet's origination or destination addresses and the network transport service used. Traditional packet filters are static and use rule sets to allow or deny packets based solely on header content. Stateful dynamic packet filtering (Synamic SPI), goes beyond basic filtering technology: rules can be built dynamically depending on the conditions of the connection itself.

Dynamic rules support a highly sophisticated level of packet filtering. The WatchGuard two-way packet filtering engine is one of the core features of the system. WatchGuard's stateful dynamic packet filtering provides an extremely powerful foundation for departmental or single-system firewalls aimed at safeguarding or restricting internal user access to critical systems. The base engine uses a pseudo-interpreter with a C-style scripting language that handles more complex functions as built-in keywords.

Entry-level routers that include "NAT" are venerable against many types of attacks, and although currently adequate for a home environment, are not sufficient to protect a business against external threats. For this reason, WDSI recommends implementing as a minimum a firewall with Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI). WDSI will upgrade the out-of-the-box configuration and optimize your firewall to achieve maximum performance and protection.

What is a "Directory Harvest Attack"?

Spammers today use sophisticated techniques to bypass typical email server checking mechanisms in order to retrieve valuable information, such as a list of valid email addresses. One of these techniques is called a Directory Harvest Attack, or DHA.

During a DHA, spammers attempt to deliver messages to multiple addresses, such as johndoe@yourcompany.com, jdoe@yourcompany.com, and john@yourcompany.com. Addresses that are not rejected by the receiving mail server are determined as valid. These addresses are compiled and sold to other spammers worldwide. Within hours, a brand new email box can be full of unsolicited, junk email.

A successful DHA can net a spammer thousands of business email addresses in just a few minutes. The results force unprotected corporations to incur higher email system costs and face increased breaches in security. The most immediate problem, however, is that the "flood" of inbound email requests overloads even a mid-range "SPI" perimeter firewall/router, making Internet browsing and sending/receiving Internet email impossible.

Although Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 offers many advanced capabilities to keep your system secure, as a DHA targets your valid Domain Name, even a fully-patched system is susceptible to this type of threat. As such, additional protection is required.

The solution is to either (a) install and correctly configure a more-advanced network Firewall such as the WatchGuard Firebox X500 or X700, and/or (b) implement a Preemptive Email Protection System, such as WDSI's Postini solution.

Postini Perimeter Manager monitors SMTP connections and identifies patterns of behavior that are associated with SMTP attacks including directory harvest attacks (DHA), SMTP Denial of Service attacks, and statistically significant spikes in spam or virus activity. All aspects of SMTP traffic are analyzed and correlated to distinguish between damaging and legitimate activity. Attacks and unwanted probes are automatically rejected at the connection level, in real time.

Please click here for more information about Postini Email Filtering Service from WDSI.