Arts and Architecture Firewalls Quick Answers

What is a firewall?

A firewall is a device that sits between the Internet and the computers and networks within a building. It will intercept most malicious incoming network traffic--the type typically used by hackers to remotely break into a computer.

Why do we have them?

For protection against Internet threats. Your computer is bombarded with break-in attempts every day from across the globe. As a snapshot example, between midnight and 5:00 a.m. on February 16 there were over 2000 attempts from the Internet to access the college’s main server (without success).

In addition, viruses are being distributed daily by Internet sites, junk e-mails and via chat programs.

Why doesn’t the University put the firewalls on our main Internet connection?

There isn’t big enough firewall in existence. Each unit is responsible for its own networking, including firewalls. As a result, our college can implement its own firewalls with its own rules, which are more tailored to college needs.

What is IPAS?

IPAS is a Penn State initiative. The acronym stands for Information Privacy and Security. The Penn State IPAS Office has a website at http://ipas.psu.edu/.

Phase 1 was mandated by the credit card industry. If we don’t have firewalls in place we cannot continue to accept credit cards for financial transactions.

Phase 2 will cover all networks with computers holding confidential or restricted data, such as PSU ID's, drivers license numbers, search committee documents, or budgetary information. You may not have any of this information on your computer, but your neighbor might.

Where are the firewalls?

As part of Phase 1, firewalls are in place in Arts, Eisenhower, Music, Downtown Theatre, Palmer, Schwab, and Pavilion. All other buildings are not affected by Phase 1.

What do the firewalls limit?

From the user’s side, not much. The firewall allows all computers inside the network to go out to the Internet without restriction.

However, the firewall provides protection from the Internet into our networks by limiting how our inside computers can be accessed. The firewalls will cut down on the number of malicious attacks mentioned above while still allowing legitimate access to college resources, such as our webserver.

The most restrictions will exist on those machines taking credit card data.

The firewalls also perform intrusion detection as a second service. Intrusion detection actively monitors traffic to block known exploits from getting to your machine.

How does that affect my daily work?

It shouldn’t. If you find that you can’t do something that you could before the firewall was put in place, call your support person.

If you typically use Office, email, and a browser, you will most likely not be affected.

If you tend to use less common software applications or those used to communicate with others across the Internet (for example, teleconferencing, internet phone service), talk to your support person.

If you manage your own server, please check out the Server FAQ. These servers will be affected by IPAS in Phase 2.

I don’t have any sensitive information on my machine. Why should I care about IPAS?

Computer hackers, worms, and viruses usually work under a principle of finding a weak link and exploiting it to gain access to more interesting things on the network. Someone in your building probably has at least some lists of student grades, recommendation letters, search committee documents, or home addresses. Since the firewall only protects malicious attacks coming from outside the network, an attacker gaining control of your machine (which is inside the firewall) will be free to exploit other machines on the network if they are open to attack.

Will firewalls stop my unwanted spam?

No. Spam comes through email, which you have to check. The firewalls only block things that attempt to come in without an initial request. Ask your support person for information about how to set up spam filtering. Also, you can check out http://kb.its.psu.edu/topics/email/spam/ to learn more about spam and what the university is doing for filtering.

Arts and Architecture Policies

We have several college policies in place as working drafts.
• Firewall Policy
• Firewall Exception Policy
• Server Security Policy
• Computer Security and Privacy Policy
• Audit Policy

These policies were developed by the Arts and Architecture IPAS committee, which consisted of Keith Bailey, Charles Garoian, Jan Grasser, Rich Karten, and Michelle Stine.

Concerns/Questions?

Talk to your support person and they can either help you or point you in the appropriate direction.