A Medieval castle had a moat round it to keep out invaders. The only way in was over the drawbridge, controlled by a beefy guard in full armour and carrying a sword. Although he had to pay the guard, limiting access to the castle made the King’s life safer, minimising the cost of attacks and damage. Protecting your computer network from invaders isn’t quite that simple, but an effective Firewall is like the moat, and different products can take the place of the beady-eyed gatekeeper.
There have been recent reports of organisations suffering serious hacking attacks. Sony was targeted by high-profile hackers LulzSec, who took customer passwords, email and home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. In an earlier attack, millions of credit card details were taken through the PlayStation network. The costs have been immense, and is a reminder of how damaging malicious software (malware) can be for a company’s bottom line.
