RE: Firewall in AS400

["Andy Nolen-Parkhouse" <aparkhouse@xxxxxxxxx>]

> I am not trying to be a wiseazz with these comments.  I am trying to
focus
> my thoughts on the purposes and the benefits.  The firewall buzz has
> become
> a mantra and the goal has been lost imho.
>
> My little linksys 4-port router does all the firewall services I feel
I
> need
>  and it'll handle 256 devices for under $100

Booth,

My Linksys has protected me well at home also.  I think what you're
describing (the graphs and reports and stuff) are those things which a
salesperson would use to differentiate their individual offering from
the competition.  Firewalls are a relatively mature product now so it
may well be that the core functions are assumed and the bells/whistles
are featured.  Yes, that's hype.

I view a firewall as the lowest-cost and most effective means of
implementing a reasonable level of security between my network and the
outside world.  Short of having industrial strength security on every
device in my network, it keeps the bad guys away.  The effort to
bullet-proof every device would cost an order of magnitude more than a
well-configured firewall.

Regards,
Andy