Question

What firewall systems include any of these features: Network Address Translation (NAT), a proxy server or a bastion host? How would the function of the firewall be enhanced by any of them?

What are the specific limitations of security technology? Are there ways of overcoming those limitations? How can the review of security audits and logs help in identifying those limitations, eliminating them and generally help in improving computer security?

Answer 1

What firewall systems include any of these features: Network Address Translation (NAT), a proxy server or a bastion host?
The firewalls can be used to filter the types of traffic that are allowed to reach the internal users. A packet-filtering firewall can filter traffic based on the source or destination IP address of a particular network packet as well as the TCP or UDP port number that it is transmitting on. There are also application-level (or circuit-level) firewalls that more fully examine incoming traffic to ensure that it is not malicious or harmful in any way. Firewalls also can function as Network Address Translation (NAT) devices that allow one to use private IP addresses for one's internal clients while still enabling access to a public network such as the Internet. Static NAT filtering creates a one-to-one mapping between private and public IP addresses and is beneficial for a network with only a couple of internal hosts. For a network that has many internal hosts and only a few public IP addresses to go around, dynamic NAT translation can be enabled, where private-to-public IP address mappings takes place.

How would the function of the firewall be enhanced by any of them?

NAT is not a security feature originally, but in practice it does implement a form of port blocking which has proved very useful for OSes that are shipped with many open ports and contained implementation mistakes . It's designed to allow reuse of IP addresses so as to extend the scalability of networks.
If your home computer is shipped to you by default with open ports for file sharing on the local network, then it having a unique IP address assigned by your ISP allows any script-kiddy or robot to send packets on those ports.
On the other hand, the house computer connected to a NAT-using home router to contact the web cannot receive data from arbitrary machines on the web . It are often contacted by other machines on the LAN and by servers when there's a NAT traversal rule found out . This happens:
a)when you initiate a connection to an Internet server, in which case the router will modify the IP in your packet to its own public IP and the port you used to a randomly allocated port. It'll then transfer the traffic receiving on that port to your machine
b)when you use NAT traversal protocols (e.g. UPnP) to make such a traversing port on-the-fly in order that other Internet clients can contact you. This is used in P2P apps of all kinds. Some routers are configured to let local machines create temporary traversal rules on the fly, others aren't
c)when you manually configure your router to permanently forward incoming packets on a specific port to a local machine; usually because you have a server running which you want to be accessible

What are the specific limitations of security technology?
A firewall is a crucial component of securing your network and is meant to deal with the problems of knowledge integrity or traffic authentication (via stateful packet inspection) and confidentiality of your internal network (via NAT). Your network gains these benefits from a firewall by receiving all transmitted traffic through the firewall. The importance of including a firewall in your security strategy is apparent; however, firewalls do have the next limitations:
a)A firewall cannot prevent users or attackers with modems from dialing in to or out of the internal network, thus bypassing the firewall and its protection completely.
b)Firewalls cannot enforce your password policy or prevent misuse of passwords. Your password policy is crucial during this area because it outlines acceptable conduct and sets the ramifications of noncompliance.
c)Firewalls are ineffective against nontechnical security risks like social engineering
d)Firewalls cannot stop internal users from accessing websites with malicious code
e)Firewalls cannot protect you from poor decisions.
f)Firewalls cannot protect you when your security policy is too lax.

Are there ways of overcoming those limitations?
It’s important for organizations to understand that technology has a long way to go before it can become a standalone cybersecurity solution. For now, the best option is to use todays technology along with traditional techniques. Here are a few guidelines that will help you maintain effective security standards with traditional techniques:
a)Hire experienced cybersecurity professionals with niche skills.
b)Have cybersecurity professional test systems and networks for vulnerabilities and fix them preemptively.
c)Use URL filtering and reputation-based security services to block malicious links that may contain viruses or malware.
d)Implement firewalls and malware scanners to block malware and viruses.
e)Pay close attention to the outgoing traffic and apply egress filters to restrict outgoing traffic.
f)Analyze cyber threats and security protocols to gain informative insights that would help create a more secure approach toward cyber attacks.
g)Update existing systems in the organization to integrate modern technologies and machine learning.
h)Conduct regular audits of hardware and software to monitor the health of the systems must be among the top priorities.
i)Consider training employees and educating them about cyber attacks.
j)Incentivize and promote the development of innovative applications

How can the review of security audits and logs help in identifying those limitations, eliminating them and generally help in improving computer security?
Network security audits are important because they assist you identify your biggest security risks so you'll make changes which will protect your company from those risks. That’s pretty common knowledge. However, a network security audit isn't a “one-and-done” solution. You’re getting to want to run such audits a minimum of once a year (if less frequently).
Why?
Because, things change—and quickly. Odds are, as your company continues to grow, you’re getting to keep adding new hardware to your offices or maybe whole new office locations. You’ll probably find yourself adding new software to your business at some point also .
The thing is that, once you add new hardware to your business, you’re creating new security endpoints as well—potentially creating new security vulnerabilities. New software programs—whether they’re running on the individual devices or on “the cloud” as an SaaS solution—can also introduce new vulnerabilities in your security.
One new piece of hardware or one new software program running on one device won't require a serious review of your security architecture. However, over the course of a year, it’s easy to lose track of just what percentage changes your company has made. By running an annual audit, you'll reassemble an entire picture of your network security’s overall status and shut up any cybersecurity gaps .While the precise method of the audit may change from one MSSP to subsequent , a couple of basic steps include:
a)Device & Platform Identification: The first step of the audit is to identify all of the assets on your network, as well as the operating systems they use. This is vital to make sure that any and every one threats are identified.
b)Security Policy Review: Here, the MSSP reviews all of your company’s security policies and procedures to see whether they match up to the standards required to effectively protect your technology and information assets. For example, who has access to what, and do they actually need that access?
c)Security Architecture Review: Where the policy review assesses your documented policies, the architecture review analyzes the actual controls and technologies that are in place. This builds off of the device & platform identification process to give you an in-depth analysis of your cybersecurity measures.
d)Risk Assessment: Here, the MSSP conducts various assessments to characterize your systems (process, application, and function), identify threats, and analyze the control environment to work out what your risks are and their potential impact. This information is then wont to prioritize the fixes from the most important threat that's easiest to remedy to the littlest threat that's the toughest to repair .
e)Firewall Configuration Review: A specific security technology that any MSSP will want to review in depth is your network’s firewall. Here, the MSSP should review your firewall’s topology, rule-base analyses, management processes/procedures, and configuration. The MSSP also will likely evaluate the policies for remote access and check to ascertain if the firewall is up so far with the newest patches.
f)Penetration Testing: Pen tests function a sort of assay for your network’s security architecture, wherein the testers attempt to “break” your security architecture in order that they can find and fix previously-undiscovered issues.
After the audit is complete, the MSSP should provide you with an in depth report telling you what they’ve found. This step is particularly important because it helps you discover the risks your company is facing so you'll prioritize the foremost important fixes.
Compared to the expense, loss of reputation, and frustration of a serious data breach, the time and energy of completing a radical network security audit is vastly preferable.