This book teaches the basics of network operation and how a firewall is put together. It's important to understand risk, and the book helps explain risk management and how it impacts a security policy. You'll also see how hackers target and penetrate systems. There's a guide to TCP/IP and common Internet services. From this base camp, Firewalls begins to climb the mountain of Internet security. The basic technologies and security requirements that fit together to form a firewall are introduced, along with the security policies of the authors' "perfect firewall."

A large section of the book is taken up with comparative reviews of most of the main freeware and commercial firewall products currently available. This is a useful tool that gives you everything you're likely to need when deciding how to choose a firewall for your network.