Im currently looking into tighter control on my network. I have AV software on all machine but feel thats not enough. offering little or no protection from Malware, spyware, adware etc...

The quandary im in is should i go for a hardware solution ie a firewall whizzy box that sits at the gateway or a software solution like the AV installed on each machine. Both have there advantages and disadvantages, and come in at similar price.

What are your thoughts and recomendation?

thanks

Joel

The biggest risk is people surfing and downloading nasties , so get a decent proxy server that does content checking.

You should also definitely have a firewall on the network if you haven't already got one.

NOD32 - nothing better. www.nod32.com

Ask any user. Had this for 2 years now, unparalled support, fantastic value and peace of mind.

3 products ive looked at are Spy sweeper on the software side of things, and on hardware box side, Cymphonix N series boxes, and panda gate defender.

Joel

I'd say a hardware firewall, to keep out the nasty stuff. Hardware firewalls generally run some kind of Linux, so the crackers find 'em harder to break. They do cost more, though.

Then we use Mailsweeper and Sophos to sweep for nasty stuff coming in from Email, plus Sophos on each PC.

Keeps most things out........

Phil

the only firewall i have at the moment is one buit in with the adsl modem/router. sometimes i wander if its enough....

Im running pure message on the server filtering the emails and sophos AV oneach machine too

Thanks

Joel

On a general security note:

For those like me with low to middling knowledge, Steve Gibson (of GRC.com, Shields-Up etc) is doing weekly security Podcasts; well worth a listen.

Get them from iTunes or in several different formats from here:

http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm

He talks about NAT routers as hardware firewalls in episode three.

(PS: You don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts; any MP3 or PC will do)

Thanks not having an ipod off to a none starter lol

think i found the answer sophos are doing a product upgrade to inc spyware and adware etc this is free to existing customers! Result! PhilC that might be of interest to you check out sophos web site for more details

Joel

Our network has a hardware firewall, which used to be a Soho TC1 IIRC, but is now a big mutha Cisco thing so we can apply for MoD List X status. Our office Netgear router has a firewall built-in, but we don't use it, as we couldn't get it to support our VPN / intranet. I don't think the level of security was ever in question, so it might be OK to go down the router route for firewall protection (so to speak) if you don't need to network different sites.

Spyware Blaster on all machines, and currently Symantec Anti-Virus, but we're soon to kick SAV into the long grass as it takes up too much memory and CPU time. Probably going to go with Sophos for anti-virus in the future as like you say, it now comes with anti-spyware etc.

Careful how you set up the content screening BTW, as we had all sorts of problems when we first got the Soho firewall because it blocked access to anything related to chemical and nuclear processes, on the grounds of it being seditious or something. Working for a company that has clients in the chemical and nuclear industries, this was caused a bit of difficulty to say the least!!! We now just screen for nuddy pictures, and nasty executables (i.e. the text content of sites isn't checked).