RE: ISA Server or Firewall Appliance?

From: Barrie Dempster (barrie_at_reboot-robot.net)
Date: 11/19/05

  • Next message: James Eaton-Lee: "RE: ISA Server or Firewall Appliance?" 
    To: "Jim Harrison (ISA)" <Jim.Harrison@microsoft.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:20:56 +0000

    On Fri, 2005-11-18 at 11:39 -0800, Jim Harrison (ISA) wrote:
    > To tell the truth, I'm surprised at the lack of ISA / MS bashing in this
    > thread.

    I think it has been quite decent too, although it is the Focus-MS list
    so you'd expect most of the bashers to just not subscribe.

    > Is it an indication of MS' place in the general security
    > community, a general lack of interest in ISA or the holiday season
    > approaching? The world may never know...

    ISA rocks and as James has said he's a major fan of the system. There is
    no doubt that ISA is a great system and worth using in a lot of
    scenarios, I personally love it. Although I know it does have some
    failings, not to admit that would just be silly as one system can't do
    everything and do it without flaw - although ISA tries very hard at this
    and holds together quite well.

    > Following this context, we then examine the exploits and compromises
    > each firewall product *itself* has experienced; i.e, that attack that
    > succeeded in the context of the firewall code itself.
    > It's in this context where I state that ISA has experienced no reported
    > compromises.

    You don't state whether or not that is unique here though although you
    phrase it as if it is, personally I don't *believe* it is, although I
    have seen no study on this to prove it either way and haven't undertaken
    the study myself. By this I mean something properly independent, not
    vendor funded - which most research in areas like this tends to be.

    > Also, ISA (and to be fair; the aforementioned competitors) is far more
    > than a simple "firewalling stack". What separates ISA from the others
    > is the fact that ISA has and continues to "lead the pack" in L4+
    > inspection.

    Indeed, easily the strongest selling points of the system. I said it
    before, nothing comes close to ISA when you want to work with RPC. 

    -- 
With Regards..
Barrie Dempster (zeedo) - Fortiter et Strenue
"He who hingeth aboot, geteth hee-haw" Victor - Still Game
blog:  http://reboot-robot.net
sites: http://www.bsrf.org.uk - http://www.security-forums.com
ca:    https://www.cacert.org/index.php?id=3

  • Next message: James Eaton-Lee: "RE: ISA Server or Firewall Appliance?"

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