Leaders and authority

Because of the popularity and benefits of using Internet, corresponding Internet and network security threats also increase year by year. Firewalls are used to be the main protector for an organization. Initially, we have the packet filtering firewall to control traffic and provide se-curities. Nowadays, we have many kinds of firewall solutions and they can provide different security levels. How to choose a suitable firewall solution for a company according to their needs is worth to search. This thesis will cover topics about secure mechanisms in the firewall, different types of fire-wall technology and commonly used firewall architectures nowadays. Based on the theory part, I will implement different firewall solutions and measure their performance. Cisco router with CBAC and SmoothWall placed inside a router will be mainly compared and analysed. Then I will give my suggestions for a company whether choose a dedicated firewall or an in-tegrated firewall