Shared Firewall Service
What We Do
The Information Security Office (ISO) Shared Firewall Service offers a common set of rules and profiles to provide basic firewall coverage for departments needing to protect their administrative computing networks, including workstations and printers. This service is offered as part of the bSecure project.
The Shared Firewall contains a standard set of access rules, maintained by ISO, that allows access typically needed for client systems using the network for academic and administrative purposes. Most outbound communication to servers and the larger internet is allowed, with blocking of network threats such as malware downloads and known phishing sites. Inbound network connections are allowed only to support common workstation services such as client management, printing, and remote access.
Why We Do It
Many campus departments would benefit from the protection offered by the firewall service, but they do not have local IT expertise necessary for maintaining access rules. By providing a Shared Firewall with a standard set of access rules appropriate for basic administrative computing, we can offer firewall coverage to all departments at no additional cost. Local IT staff may also choose to lower their administrative overhead by using the Shared Firewall for workstation subnets, while maintaining their own firewalls for specialty networks.
Network Operations and Services (NOS) offers firewall services for both general campus and datacenter networks, so that departments can keep their networked systems segregated from other systems on the campus network. ISO partners with NOS to provide additional protective security controls as part of the firewall service, however local IT administrators within departments are responsible for maintaining their own firewall access rules according to their operational needs.
Who Benefits
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Departments that need firewall protection but don’t have local IT expertise necessary to do so
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Local IT administrators who want to simplify firewall management
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End users accessing campus applications
How to Get Started
Request this service by completing the Shared Firewall Telcat form .