SonicWALL Internet Security Appliances - Manual (Page 13)

Page 14 SonicWALL Internet Security Appliance Administrator’s Guide
1 Introduction
Your SonicWALL Internet Security Appliance
The SonicWALL Internet Security Appliance provides a complete security solution that protects your
network from attacks, intrusions, and malicious tampering. In addition, the SonicWALL filters
objectionable Web content and logs security threats. SonicWALL VPN provides secure, encrypted
communications to business partners and branch offices.
The SonicWALL Internet Security Appliance uses stateful packet inspection to ensure secure firewall
filtering. Stateful packet inspection is widely considered to be the most effective method of filtering
IP traffic. MD5 authentication is used to encrypt communications between your Management
Station and the SonicWALL Web Management Interface. MD5 Authentication prevents unauthorized
users from detecting and stealing the SonicWALL password as it is sent over your network.
SonicWALL Internet Security Appliance Functional Diagram
The following figure illustrates the SonicWALL Internet security appliance functions.
By default, the SonicWALL Internet security appliance allows outbound access from the LAN to the
Internet and blocks inbound access from the Internet to the LAN. Users on the Internet are restricted
from accessing resources on the LAN unless they are authorized remote users or Network Access
Rules were created to allow inbound access. If the SonicWALL includes a DMZ port, users on the
LAN and the Internet have access to the devices on the DMZ.