Winner: SecureComputing Sidewinder G2, Secure Computing Corp., (800) 692-5625, (408) 979-6100. www.securecomputing.com
Although having a firewall is a no-brainer for most organizations, the most commonly deployed type of firewall may not provide the best protection. Stateful packet filters are good at blocking network-level attacks, but application proxies, like the Sidewinder G2, offer much more protection and, in 100-Mbps environments, doesn't degrade network performance significantly. Sporting robust application proxies for common protocols such as HTTP, SMTP and DNS--and some less common protocols, like H.323 and SQL*Net--Sidewinder blocks both network-level attacks and common application protocol-layer attacks.
Finalists:
Check Point FireWall-1 Next Generation Feature Pack 3, Check Point Software Technologies, (800) 429-4391, (650) 628-2000. www.checkpoint.com
Symantec Enterprise Firewall 7.0 with VPN, Symantec Corp., (800) 745-6054, (408) 517-8000. www.symantec.com
Web Site Application Security System