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The NSS Labs UTM tests are the most comprehensive and thorough in the industry. They are designed to determine the suitability of a particular UTM product for use as a basic, all-in-one gateway security device and will focus on the effects of combining multiple security technologies (as listed above) in a single appliance. Thus, the overall focus of the tests will be on the manageability, performance and capabilities of the appliance as a basic firewall or transparent bridge, and how the performance is affected by enabling/disabling the additional security functions. UTMs may combine the following possible functions:

Firewall

These devices are typically deployed at the network perimeter, and therefore robust, stateful firewall capabilities with NAT are required.

IDS/IPS

A firewall only enforces policy, and if that policy includes allowing inbound HTTP traffic to Web servers on the DMZ, then there is nothing the firewall can do to prevent HTTP exploits from subverting the target Web server. The IPS capability will detect and block such attempted exploits at the network perimeter, preventing the malicious traffic from ever reaching the server. An IDS-only capability can detect exploits and raise alerts, but will be unable to block the malicious traffic.

Anti Virus

Gateway Anti Virus prevents inbound virus traffic at the edge of the network, thus reinforcing desktop security solutions and blocking viruses before they reach the desktop. This solution can also prevent infected machines from propagating viruses outside the corporate network.

Web Filtering & Content Filtering

Using a constantly-updated database of categorised URLs, a gateway URL filtering solution can prevent employees from accessing objectionable or inappropriate Web sites from the corporate network. By scanning Web and mail traffic for specific content, a gateway content filtering solution can prevent objectionable or inappropriate material from passing into, or out of, the corporate network.

VPN

Often deployed as branch office solutions on a corporate WAN, the ability to create a small number of secure VPN tunnels is essential.

See the following links for further details:

Certified UTM Products