Checkpoint Next Generation Security Administration

by Syngress

Overview

Unparalleled security management that IT professionals have been waiting for.Check Point Software Technologies is the worldwide leader in securing the Internet. The company's Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture provides the infrastructure that enables secure and reliable Internet communications. CheckPoint recently announced a ground-breaking user interface that meets the computer industry's Internet security requirements. The Next Generation User Interface is easy to use and offers unparalleled security management capabilities by creating a visual picture of security operations.CheckPoint Next Generation Security Administration will be a comprehensive reference to CheckPoint's newest suite of products and will contain coverage of: Next Generation User Interface, Next Generation Management, Next Generation Performance, Next Generation VPN Clients, and Next Generation Systems. CheckPoint are a company to watch, they have captured over 50% of the VPN market and over 40% of the firewall market according to IDC ResearchOver 29,000 IT professionals are CheckPont Certified This is the first book to covers all components of CheckPoint's new suite of market-leading security products - it will be in demand!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080476452
Publisher:	Syngress Publishing
Publication date:	04/11/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	800
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Cherie Amon (Technical Editor) is a Senior Network Security Engineer and Security Instructor for Integralis. She is a Check Point Certified Security Instructor and has been installing, configuring, and supporting Check Point products since 1997. Cherie teaches the Check Point courses at the Integralis Authorized Training Center (ATC) in East Hartford, Connecticut, which is the only Check Point ATC in the state. Drew Simonis (CISSP, CCNA, SCSA, SCNA, CCSA, CCSE, IBM CS) is a Senior Security Engineer with the RL Phillips Group, LLC, where he provides senior level security consulting to the United States Navy, working on large enterprise networks. Drew is a security generalist, with a strong background in system administration, Internet application development, intrusion detection and prevention, and penetration testing. He is a co-author of Hack Proofing Your Web Applications (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-928994-31-8) and Hack Proofing Sun Solaris 8 (Syngress, ISBN: 1-928994-44-X). Daniel Kligerman (CCSA, CCSE, Extreme Networks GSE, LE) is a Consulting Analyst with TELUS. As a member of TELUS Enterprise Solutions Inc., he specializes in routing, switching, load balancing, and network security in an Internet hosting environment. Allen Keele is an author and lecturer and holds over 20 technical accreditations. He currently leads Certified Tech Trainers, Inc. to provide comprehensive InfoSec training throughout the United States and Europe for Check Point (CCSE/CCSE/CCSE+) and Security Certified Program (SCNP/SCNA) accreditation.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction
Once you have the VPN-1/FireWall-1 software installed and configured, then you are ready to log into the graphical user interface and start composing your objects and rule bases. In this chapter I will walk you through all the options you have for creating various objects and show you some of the nice features that you can utilize in the policy editor to manipulate your rules. I will show you how to access the firewall's implied rules, and explain the global properties that affect every security policy you create. It's important to know why your firewall is allowing pings, if you have not explicitly defined them in your rule base.

After paying a lot of attention to your policy options, I will then show you how to access your firewall logs and system status. The Track options you choose in your policy will affect the outcome of your logs. You may choose to log some rules and not others. I will also describe ways to make certain selections in your Log Viewer so that you can view only logs for a specific source IP address, or logs for a specific user. The Check Point Log Viewer has a really high quality interface, and is easy to understand.

Managing Objects
Managing objects is probably the thing you'll be doing most often as a firewall administrator. Luckily for you, Check Point has made this task much easier than you might think. While there is still a lot of information needed to set the foundation for your rule base, you needn't put forth a great deal of effort to get that information into a useable format. Your first task is to log into the FireWall-1 GUI management client. On a Windows system, simply start the Policy Editor or your GUI client bydouble-clicking its icon. On a Unix system such as Solaris or AIX, execute the fwpolicy command found in $FWDIR/bin. You'll be presented with a login window, as displayed in Figure 3.1. Note that if this is the initial connection from a GUI client, FireWall-1 will present the management server fingerprint. This is used as a security measure to enable you to validate the identity of that management server.

Once you have logged into the GUI, you'll see a lot of information. Don't worry; you can easily customize this default view to show you just what you need. You can also add or subtract from this view as needed. A couple of changes have been made from previous versions of the policy editor. Figure 3.1 shows you the new default view.

Figure 3.1 Policy Editor

The windowpanes are called (from left moving clockwise) the Objects Tree, Rule Base, Objects List, and Topology Map. You can toggle which one is displayed by selecting View from the Policy Editor menu, as displayed in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2 View Selection

The Objects Tree gives you a concise and orderly view of the defined objects of each available type. If your boss asks what networks are defined, here's the place that will give you the quickest answer. Next is the rule base. This enables you to instantly sum up the totality of what your firewall is enforcing, but it also enables you to quickly view NAT, QoS,f and Desktop Security rule information. Below the rule base you'll find the Objects List, which presents a little more detail than the Objects Tree about your defined objects.

The final pane in this window is our "belle of the ball," as it were. New in FireWall-1 NG (assuming you've purchased the Visual Policy Editor) is the Topology Map. This gives you a handsome network map showing the interconnections of all your defined objects. Figure 3.3 shows that pane enlarged to full screen.

Figure 3.3 Topology Map

The neat thing is that this map is completely interactive. You can rearrange the placement of the objects and even query them for information, and alter their configuration.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Check Point Next Generation Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring VPN-1/FireWall-1 Next Generation Chapter 3: Using the Graphical Interface Chapter 4: Creating a Security Policy Chapter 5: Applying Network Address Translation Chapter 6: Authenticating Users Chapter 7: Open Security (OPSEC) and Content Filtering Chapter 8: Managing Policies and Logs Chapter 9: Tracking and Alerts Chapter 10: Configuring Virtual Private Networks Chapter 11: Securing Remote Clients Chapter 12: Advanced Configurations

Editorial Reviews

After an introduction to the components of the Check Point Next Generation Suite of products and VPN-1/FireWall-1 architecture, this book gives instructions on installing and configuring VPN-1/Firewall-1 NG; using the graphical interface; creating a security policy; applying network address translation; and authenticating users. Directions are given for open security and content filtering, managing policies and logs, tracking and alerts, configuring virtual private networks, securing remote clients, and advanced configurations. Simonis provides security consulting to large enterprise networks. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)