Leythos said:
I disagree, and I've got lots of installed firewalls that BLOCK CONTENT
in the HTTP and SMTP streams.
My WatchGuard Firewalls can block attachments based on MIME TYPE, by
extension, by size of attachment, and many other CONTENT TYPES. They can
also block content from HTTP streams, keeping you from downloading a
EXE, but allowing a DOC, or removing connection information and cookies,
or blocking Active-X, or invalid headers....
While these are not "Firewall" functions, they are Proxy based services
inside most high-end firewalls designed as border devices - something
that cheap, sub-$500, units will not have.
Since the OP never bothered to mention WHICH firewall he/she uses, it is
really doubtful that they are using anything other than a "personal"
software firewall that runs on the same host that they are attempting to
protect. The [lack of] expertise shown in the question itself pretty much
indicates that this user is not running a separate host as a firewall
appliance in an enterprise-level network.
All the content interrogation you mention goes beyond what is a firewall.
Content filtering is something above and in addition to firewalling. Just
because a firewall product includes extra features doesn't mean those
features are intrinsic operations to a firewall. I can buy suites that
include a whole slew of disparate functioned programs, like anti-spam with
anti-virus with privacy protection with e-mail attachment protection and
maybe even with content filtering or censorware, but that doesn't make them
all a firewall function. When you wander off into discussing content
filtering, it certainly doesn't doesn't sound even like a firewalling
function; otherwise, you could extend even farther and include something
like Websense for content filtering but that is obviously not a firewall.
You can get products from WatchGuard that even include spam filtering and
obviously that is also not a firewalling function.
Considering the question posed by Brian, I really doubt he is using a
firewall appliance (with or without all the extra bells and whistles ABOVE
just a firewalling function). The question indicates that, at most, Brian
is using a personal firewall (and since he doesn't even mention WHICH one
then he might be using just the Windows Firewall).
