Hardening VS firewalling ?

From: Omar Koudsi (omark@jeeran.com)
Date: 01/08/02 

From: "Omar Koudsi" <omark@jeeran.com>
To: <security-basics@securityfocus.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 02:29:43 +0200

OK, I know this is more of a theoretical debate, because in reality we
are able and should do BOTH.

But according to you, which is more important? Paying attention to
having great firewall with a great ACL more than hardening and patching
the systems? Or not have to worry about the firewall or having one at
all and concentrate on applying best practices to OS/APPS and making
sure the OS/APPS is up date on patches?

In the unlikely event that you had to choose one over the other (or some
people would argue that this is a reality since time is limited and you
can really concentrate on one) , which one would it be and why?

Regards,

-----------
Omar Koudsi
IT Architect
Network Security Center
Special Systems Company
http://security.sscjo.com
omark@sscjo.com
Tel: (9626) 5664221
Fax: (9626) 5681557

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