firewall machine n. A dedicated gateway machine with special security
precautions on it, used to service outside network connections and
dial-in lines. The idea is to protect a cluster of more loosely
administered machines hidden behind it from crackers. The typical
firewall is an inexpensive micro-based Unix box kept clean of critical
data, with a bunch of modems and public network ports on it but just one
carefully watched connection back to the rest of the cluster. The
special precautions may include threat monitoring, callback, and even a
complete iron box keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity
patterns. Syn. flytrap, Venus flytrap. See also wild side.
[When first coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon. Now
(1999) it is techspeak, and has been retained only as an example of
uptake --ESR]
Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
firewall machine
A dedicated gateway machine with special security
precautions on it, used to service outside network, especially
Internet, connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to
protect a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden
behind it from crackers. The typical firewall is an
inexpensive microprocessor-based Unix machine with no
critical data, with modems and public network ports on it, but
just one carefully watched connection back to the rest of the
cluster. The special precautions may include threat
monitoring, call-back, and even a complete iron box
keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity patterns.
Firewalls often run proxy gateways.
Synonym flytrap, Venus flytrap.
(1997-06-08)
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