Keywords
Citation
(1999), "UK firewall standards", Facilities, Vol. 17 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.1999.06917cab.013
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
UK firewall standards
UK firewall standards
Keywords PCs, Security
A security specialist has criticised current firewall standards because they leave businesses vulnerable to network espionage and attack.
Clive McCafferty, who has worked in government security since the cold war, claims that standards laid out in the BS7799 firewall documents are outdated having more in common with the mainframe environment than the complex, heterogeneous, distributed enterprises of today.
As a result, McCafferty's network systems security company, CenturyCom, is advising businesses to adopt a more pragmatic and direct approach to corporate security matching programming and deployment of security systems to individual company needs rather than inventing lengthy formal reports.
"It is typical of bureaucratic organisations to produce a chunk of documentation in a completely different language to that used in security solutions", said Clive McCafferty, managing director at CenturyCom. "Unfortunately, in many organisations including government, the value of a security policy document is often judged by its weight and not its content. Companies are therefore faced with a dilemma do they base security policies on government standards or choose the default option by cutting and pasting sections of the document?"
"The policy document talks about theories such as risk assessment, but gives little away about how to implement its suggestions," continued McCafferty. "In fact, there are relatively old RFC (requests for comment) on the Internet which are far more valuable than this. Ideally, the Government should be pressured to draw up a slimmed down, updated 'BS7799-lite' document. The focus being on helping those implementing solutions on the ground, rather than those regulating them in Westminster."
Anyone with strong views on the subject, is encouraged to contact Clive Mccafferty, Tel: +44 (0) 1635 295 500; Fax: +44 (0) 1635 868 957; Web: clive.mccafferty@centurycom.co.uk