It is indeed true that determined attacks cannot be protected by firewalls. However, a company’s network is supposed to be provided with a definitive filter in the form of a firewall. It is unfortunate that a number of well known commercial firewalls can still be bypassed by hackers.
The vulnerability of companies towards attacks is often increased during the process of outsourcing network security. The latter can be a cumbersome task owing to the high level of risks involved. Although outsourcing network security has several attractive ventures, there are considerable risks.
Managed security services have been offered by several companies for some decades. The confusing nature of the field has made it difficult for industry analysts even to classify the actual nature of services offered. A recent study on SonicWALL, Palo Alto Networks, Juniper, Fortinet, and Cisco firewall companies revealed that all of them are prone to attacks.
A split Handshake spoofing trick that interferes with TCP connections can penetrate through these firewalls. The trick is used by hackers to confuse server machine computers. The devices may not be able to differentiate between internal and external sources of communication.
Cisco and other firewalls cannot be used to enhance password policy. Noncompliance to strict password policy can lead to dire security ramifications. In addition, non-technical risks can hardly be prevented effectively by Cisco. For instance, social engineering is one of the areas that Cisco cannot manage properly. Besides, lax security policies and poor decisions cannot be prevented by the Cisco firewall.
In order to enhance the effective operation of a firewall, employees should not visit vulnerable sites within office networks. Passwords should remain confidential at all times. Office workers should also follow the security guidelines provided by the firewall company. Office users are also supposed to immediately report any signs of malicious attacks or suspicious links to the network security personnel.