Firewall
Secure, Safe Connectivity for Your Business
Stormwall is a Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance which brings together a host of services and functions designed to protect your network. Housed within one single unit, Stormwall simplifies and greatly reduces the cost of deploying these services and functions separately. Stormwall is an all-inclusive network security product.
If you would like more information on this device and how it would work in your network please contact us.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS/IPS)
Stormwall is located on the perimeter of your network protecting it from potential intruders. With the optional IDS/IPS module Stormwall is significantly more than just a firewall, it actively inspects network traffic for irregularities which may indicate a possible attempt at infiltrating or compromising the integrity of your network. There are various options available from completely free of charge to subscription based models. Please get in touch with us for more information.
A firewall monitors network traffic at the connection level, checking where the traffic is coming from, where it is going, and the origin and/or destination port. Stormwall surpasses standard firewall systems by monitoring the pattern of network connections, recognising port scans, specific threat signatures and denial of service attacks. In addition Stormwall actually inspects each packet, recognising dangerous code, badly formed packets, buffer overflow attempts as well as many other attack vectors.
Traffic Control
Having control over your network traffic allows you to be more productive and waste less bandwidth on non-work related activities, saving you money in the process. Using the ingenious traffic shaping technology inherent within Stormwall it's possible to control a wide variety of areas including:
- Increase bandwidth for services such as VoIP (Voice over IP) telephone calls,
- Restrict file sharing programs or other illegal applications
- Restrict instant messaging
- Restrict gaming
- Set limits on downloads and uploads
These permissions, including limits and restrictions, can be applied to individual computers (IP addresses) or groups, allowing for easier management.
Content Filtering
As well as controlling the traffic on your network it is often useful to control the content that makes up that traffic. For example restricting access to websites that are deemed not suitable for work such as:
- Forums
- Facebook and other social media sites
- YouTube and other audio visual sites
- Gambling websites
- Pornographic websites
- Shopping Websites
Every Stormwall comes with a fully customisable content filtering module and the above list shows just a small cross section of website types that can be limited or completely blocked. Content can be controlled by redirecting users to safe pages, blocking websites, blocking domains by category and even blocking entire countries if required.
Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam
Stormwall includes both an Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam feature which, along with your workstation and server antivirus protection, helps to defend your network infrastructure. The Anti-Virus actively checks internet traffic (HTTP) while the Anti-Spam works by using White and Blacklists, filtering your email before it even hits your mail server.
VPN
The number of VPN connections is not restricted within Stormwall like most other UTM providers; instead we provide unlimited tunnels to interconnect sites and offices. This allows for future expansion without the need for replacing the hardware or purchasing expensive software upgrades.
Stormwall allows the use of various VPN tunnelling protocols including L2TP and IPSEC. OPEN VPN is used for applications where a L2TP or IPSEC connection might fail such as a hotel wireless network. This is a powerful SSL VPN solution supporting a wide range of operating systems.
Encryption algorithms such as 3DES, AES, DES and Blowfish are employed by Stormwall to maximise security and provide safe encrypted VPN tunnels between networks. The VPN tunnels can be controlled manually or automatically allowing better control over your network infrastructure.
For more information on Stormwall please get in touch.
