Tom Shinder (MCSE, MCT)
Debra Littlejohn Shinder
Technical Editor:
Martin Grasdal
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copyright 2001 Syngress Publishing, Inc
Introduction
Security is a significant concern for any organization. If the organization has to have a
presence on or a connection to the Internet, it will also have special needs to protect
itself from unwanted intrusion and attacks from malicious and hostile sources.
The growth of the Internet has been accompanied by the growth in the numbers
and sophistication of hackers and the tools available to them. As many organizations and
home users who have a permanent connection to the Internet can attest, there is no
shortage of people who want to scan ports or break into systems. The wide availability of
inexpensive, high-bandwidth connections, such as cable modems and ADSL, has resulted
in large increases in the number of people who are continuously connected to the
Internet, thus increasing their risk for attack.
High-bandwidth connections have also made many forms of hacking a lot easier for
more people. The wide availability of software designed to compromise the security of
systems connected to the Internet is making the risks even greater. Malicious users do
not now have to be particularly talented or knowledgeable to compromise systems that
lack strong protection.
It is against this background that the market for firewall products has exploded.
Five or ten years ago, there were relatively few players in the firewall market, and most
of the products were expensive, some costing tens of thousands of dollars. Today, there
are many firewall products on the market. In response to a real need, firewall products
are widely used by almost every kind of user connected to the Internet, from home users
to large corporations.
Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) is Microsoft’s latest entry
into the fire