We understand the complexity of implementing firewalls. We have installed and implemented many of the most popular firewalls including Open BSD, Linux, Raptor, PIX, and of course Check Point's Firewall-1. We understand the configuration issues when implementing these firewalls.

Firewalls are often a collection of hardware devices and software that protect an organization from networks of dissimilar levels of trust. Firewalls are used for connections to the Internet or public networks, connections to third party suppliers and vendors, extranets, and within corporate environments to limit access to sensitive networks. Firewalls also define special networks that must be accessible to untrusted networks and yet separate form internal networks.

Hardware
Hardware must be configured to meet the security requirements of the organization. Networks need to be defined for DMZ, external, extranets, and internal segments. The firewall hardware must also be hardened. Hardening is the process of creating a secure platform for the firewall. The firewall must provide sufficient bandwidth capacity and throughput. Other issues include latency and delay, routing to and from the hosts, addressing, address translation, name resolution, and other network services.

Software
Software must be configured to enforce the security policies of an organization. This includes what to allow, what to monitor, and what should be blocked. Other configuration options may include how to deal with malicious activity, dynamically blocked ports, technical options, address translation, performance optimization, anti-spoofing, content filtering, and information leakage.