Firewall Testing

About VESARiA

Abstract

Internet firewalls are a hot commodity and there are an increasing number of products coming to market. In the past, there were only about five firewall vendors. As of this writing there are about thirty five and more appear every day. The response from the firewall customer community has been, predictably, confusion. Customers who want to purchase a firewall, who are not familiar with all the ins and outs of the technology are justifiably worried that they may be buying something that is not right for them - so they are asking for a way of making their decision easier. This paper contains the author's opinions, as a long-time firewall designer, on the topic of firewall certification and testing.

• Should we have an authority that "certifies" firewalls?
• What would "certification" mean in a firewall?
• Let's imagine a firewall test programme
• How I test a firewall
• Conclusions