Securing Network Using Smoothwall Express

SmoothWall Express is one of many security sowtware you can choose. Smootwall Express is a firewall which block all traffict to host or server behind the SmoothWall Express. If external users need to use servers behind SmoothWall Express then access to these servers has to be specifically unblocked. Be very careful about un-blocking traffic going from the Internet to the local network as you are opening a potential hole for hackers.

Smoothwall Express does not support Telnet connections gain access to the configuration and management fasilities and you should use an encrypted https connection to configure and manage Smoothwall Express.

Services supported by SmoothWall Express

• Web Proxy
  SmoothWall Express provides a configurable web proxy which can cache requested Internet objects. SmoothWall Express caches web and FTP requests but does not cache HTTPS requests or pages containing username and password information for privacy reasons
• IM Proxy
  SmoothWall Express’s Instant Messenger (IM) proxy service enables you to log IM conversations and file transfers on the green network and the purple network if it is enabled but cannot monitor HTTP-based IM sessions, or sessions made using any kind of end-to-end encryption.
• POP3 Proxy
  SmoothWall Express can Anti-Virus (AV) scan POP3 emails as they are downloaded from external mail servers to clients running on the green and purple networks.
• DHCP
  SmoothWall Express’s Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service enables you to automatically configure computers on your network. DHCP provides computers with an IP address, DNS settings, and gateway information. Both the green and purple networks can use the DHCP service
• SIP Proxy
  SmoothWall Express’s SIP proxy service manages Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic. SIP is often used to set up calls in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems. The SIP proxy service is also able to proxy Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) traffic, and will solve some of the problems involved in setting up VoIP behind NAT
• Dynamic DNS
  SmoothWall Express, together with a dynamic DNS service such as dyndns.org or no-ip.com, enables you to have a sub-domain name point to your workstation. This, in turn, enables you to run services such as a web server even if you do not have a static IP address.
• Static DNS
  SmoothWall Express can create a local hostname table that can be used by SmoothWall Express and computers on the green and purple networks. This makes hostnames resolvable to all hosts using SmoothWall Express’s DNS service. This includes SmoothWall Express itself.
• IDS
  SmoothWall Express’s intrusion detection service (IDS) detects potential security breach attempts from outside your network. This service only detects intrusion attempts, it does not prevent them.
• Remote Access
  When enabled, you can access SmoothWall Express remotely using the secure shell (SSH) service.
• Time
  You can configure SmoothWall Express with the date and time, synchronise time with a network time server and enable the inbuilt time server.