GCSx CoCo Firewalls

The preferred firewall solution is a dedicated Government Connect firewall, but local authorities can utilise an existing physical channel on an existing firewall chassis if they can demonstrate strong configuration control and mangement of the entire chassis.

The new firewall channel will be locked down in accordance with the "Take on Guide" summary rule base and the configuration of the new firewall/ firewall channel is under GC control.

GCSX No 8.1 Firewalls

A Common Criteria EAL4 certified firewall MUST be installed between the organisation and GSi

GCSX No 8.2 Firewalls

A Common Criteria EAL4 certified firewall MUST be installed between the organisation and any third party network it connects to. It is recommended that this firewall is suitably different to the firewall connected to the GSi

GCSX No 8.3 Firewalls

The firewall between GSi and the network MUST be configured in accordance with the guidance notes to this document to minimise the likelihood of a successful attack against the organisation.

GCSX No 8.4 Firewalls

Approval MUST be gained from Buying Solutions before opening firewall ports not specified in this document between GSi and the organisation

Castleforce Firewall Partners

At Castleforce we are partnered with several leading firewall vendors and we can provide pre and post technical assistance with all the products listed. 

 Check Point is a leader in network security software, firewall solutions, VPN solutions, endpoint security, network protection, security management, data protection and Pointsec data encryption technologies. Check Point provides leading enterprise, small business and consumer network security solutions.

 Stonesoft specialise in High Availability Security Appliances including Firewalls, IDS/IPS and SSL VPN in both hardware and virtual appliances. 

Networking and security solutions from Juniper Networks helps consolidate network security issues for small, medium and large enterprises

 The MSA security appliance from Celestix is specifically designed for network security, running a hardened version of Microsoft ISA Server 2006.

 SonicWALL provides firewall products with unified threat management services such as network anti-virus, anti-spyware, virtual private networking (VPN), content filtering and other security services.

Virtual Private Network Consortium (VPNC)

Better known as VPNC.  VPNC is the international trade association for manufacturers in the VPN market.

VPNC issues logos for interoperability to VPNC member products which have successfully completed the testing.

Check Point, Stonesoft, Sonicwall and Secure Computing all reach the VPNC Certified list for Firewalls.