[geeks] Router / Firewall / Endpoint Thoughts & Ideas

[Mark Benson]

Hi,

Ibm in a spot. $work are due to renew our licences for our Watchguard
Firebox at the end of the month. Itbs a significant wedge for a small
company but we can do it if we need to (afterall we did 3 years ago).

The spanner in the works is I was discussing the matter of packet inspection
middleboxes with an expert in network security (a professional one, not
bself-proclaimedb) and they were of the opinion that bmiddleboxb
solutions that do through-traffic packet inspection and re-encrypting SSL
traffic are generally a pain in the ass and not actually that effective. They
were of the opinion that modern pro-active endpoint solutions (that work on
access, not on execution among other measures) are way more effective.

So either:
= We carry on as we are and sink north-side of 3 grand into 3 more years and a
new Firebox (which isnbt bad rent *if* it works as a effective security)
OR
= We dump the Firebox in favour of a decent Statefull Firewall / Router and
focus on management, pro-active patching and security on endpoints (something
we arguably should be doing anyway) via something like PulseWay (RMM) and
BitDefender (Endpoint Security)

Anyone got any thoughts either way?

Anyone recommend a robust SMB-class router with a comprehensive Firewall, the
chops to handle our needs for 3-way WAN routing, (VoIP, Internet, and SaaS
provider site-to-site VPN - I know - itbs a shit-show), VPN (Dial-In and
Site-to-Site), onto 2 subnets internally (one for VoIP and one for general
traffic) and all the usual features. Bonus points if it is available with a
VSDL/Annex A modem.

This is exhausting. I swearb&

Thanks,