This article is from the Firewalls FAQ, by Matt Curtin cmcurtin@interhack.net and Marcus J. Ranum mjr@nfr.com with numerous contributions by others.
Firewalls can't protect very well against things like viruses. There are
too many ways of encoding binary files for transfer over networks, and too
many different architectures and viruses to try to search for them all. In
other words, a firewall cannot replace security-consciousness on the part of
your users. In general, a firewall cannot protect against a data-driven
attack--attacks in which something is mailed or copied to an internal host
where it is then executed. This form of attack has occurred in the past
against various versions of sendmail, ghostscript, and scripting mail user
agents like OutLook.
Organizations that are deeply concerned about viruses should implement
organization-wide virus control measures. Rather than trying to screen
viruses out at the firewall, make sure that every vulnerable desktop has
virus scanning software that is run when the machine is rebooted. Blanketing
your network with virus scanning software will protect against viruses that
come in via floppy disks, modems, and Internet. Trying to block viruses at
the firewall will only protect against viruses from the Internet--and the
vast majority of viruses are caught via floppy disks.
Nevertheless, an increasing number of firewall vendors are offering ``virus
detecting'' firewalls. They're probably only useful for naive users
exchanging Windows-on-Intel executable programs and malicious-macro-capable
application documents. There are many firewall-based approaches for dealing
with problems like the ``ILOVEYOU'' worm and related attacks, but these are
really oversimplified approaches that try to limit the damage of something
that is so stupid it never should have occurred in the first place. Do not
count on any protection from attackers with this feature.
A strong firewall is never a substitute for sensible software that
recognizes the nature of what it's handling--untrusted data from an
unauthenticated party--and behaves appropriately. Do not think that because
``everyone'' is using that mailer or because the vendor is a gargantuan
multinational company, you're safe. In fact, it isn't true that ``everyone''
is using any mailer, and companies that specialize in turning technology
invented elsewhere into something that's ``easy to use'' without any
expertise are more likely to produce software that can be fooled.
 
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