Firewalls

6.3 Selecting an operating system 115

Chapter 6

inefficient and burdensome. An overlay network is, for most of the

population, unfeasible.

This brings the focus back again to hiding. A clever firewall hides

things. It hides itself, hides its own ports, and effectively renders the

internal network completely invisible. This can be accomplished by

carefully selecting the firewall based on its capabilities, by installing

it in the best location, and through the nature and type of operating

system (OS). Not all OSs are created equal, but not necessarily for

the reasons many people think.

6.3 Selecting an operating system

Whether building a firewall from scratch, ...