Abstract
of
AN INITIAL DESIGN OF FIREWALL INFORMATION EXCHANGE PROTOCOL (FIEP)
by
Sandeep Reddy Pedditi
FIEP stands for Firewall Information Exchange Protocol. The FIEP is a
mechanism that enables firewalls to communicate with each other and form
firewall groups in a network. The information the firewalls communicate
with each other would improve their ability to detect any attack and thus
protect the network from being compromised. The FIEP also improves the
ability to adapt to changes in the network, informing firewalls of updates
in the access control rules in a secure way. Besides this, the FIEP keeps
all the firewalls in the group informed about the activity going on in the
group such as messaging the entire group about a new firewall joining in or
moving away from the group etc.
Presently, there is no protocol that enables firewalls to communicate with
each other and exchange information. Until recently, not much thought was
given to the need for firewalls to talk to each other; firewalled network
is isolated from the rest of the network and considered to be secure. But
it is not true to assert that a firewalled network is safe, it can still be
prone to distributed attacks. To overcome this drawback, I propose the
FIEP, using which firewalls can talk to each other and exchange
information. The FIEP is like the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) which
enables routers to exchange routing information and keeps them updated.
Similarly, FIEP will enable the firewalls to update firewall rules, form
groups and alert the other firewalls in the network about attacks, this
method will improve the overall network security and increase the
robustness of the network.
The Goal of this project is to create an initial design of the FIEP which
specifies how the firewalls interact with each other. Version 1 of FIEP,
will show the detailed steps involved in communication with other
firewalls, for example what type of connection is required, TCP or UDP, how
these connections should be established, its requirements and what
information will be exchanged e.g. access control rules and establishing a
group such as having a lead firewall which will maintain the group
information etc. We use an example network with firewalls throughout the
project to explain how FIEP works. The project will also show current best
practices in firewall deployment. The fully developed FIEP will be a
breakthrough in not just the Network Security domain but will also pave the
way for firewall communications.
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