JISC

Start date: 1 November 1998

End date: 1 May 2000

Funding programme: JISC Technologies Application (JTAP) programme

Project website: http://www.sng.ecs.soton.ac.uk/JTAP631/

The growth of the Internet brings with it the requirement to protect private networks from undesired external access. Firewall technology has been around for some time, but the emergence of more mobile and transient users means firewall systems have to cater for such access methods. Examples include portable laptops, modem dialup and wireless WaveLAN. This JTAP-funded project investigates the problem.

The rapid growth in the use of the Internet has led to an increase in the number of "incidents" where organisations suffer at th hands of unwanted intruders who gain access to their network.  The number of incidents reported to UKERNA show that this is a very real problem for sites on JANET.

The deployment of firewall systems allows a much improved level of protection to hosts lying behind such a firewall, but in instances where modem access is also desired there is a risk that such "back door" access may provide a means for an intruder to bypass the firewall.  The problem is not contained to modem access; there are similar concerns over "docking stations", i.e. student personal computer (SPC) access points, both within a public workstation area and also potentially from remote Hall of Residence locations.  There is also the issue of students requiring access via an ISP (or the national JANET dialup service), which may include access for mature or "distance learning" students.  In the latter case privileged access may be required by users outside of the main firewalled network.  This pilot aims to demonstrate how (security) problems related to multiple methods of user access can be overcome.