Do I need a firewall in this environment

My answer is going to be based off of opinion mostly.
I would say yes, you should have a firewall there. And the reason why is simply a matter of paranoid.
Sure, the US office has a firewall. Is is managed daily? Are the access logs checked and archived and studies? Are there alerts set up on the firewall when "interesting" events happen? Or is the firewall sitting in the server room, collecting dust, with everyone trusting in it to stop everything?
I am a believer that you need to examine your devices, that just having faith that they will work without fail is a false assumption.
So, the paranoid side of me says that you should have your own firewall IN CASE the US security is breached. Because if it were, then what will YOU do?
If the security of your network in India is your concern, then you should not entirely trust someone else.
Because if there is a break in at the US site, and whomever does this gets into YOUR network, then it will be YOUR fault.
So, an extra layer of security is not gonna hurt any.
In my office, we have firewalls on the Internet access points, internal firewalls setting up DMZs, firewalls at the ends of remote offices (all part of our WAN), as well as a firewall between a sister company and mine, and the sister company is IN THE SAME BUILDING ON THE SAME FLOOR! They have their own firewalls, and WE DON'T TRUST THEM EITHER!

So, IMHO, yes, you need your own firewall.

hope this helps

Do you have any internet access through the dedicated line?

If yes, then you need a firewall.

Can the dedicated line be accessed remotely?
That is is there a way to gain access to the network from a mobile location?

If yes, then you need afirewall.

Does the dedicated line use existing infrastructure for connecting between the 2 countries? Or do you actually have a true seperate piece of copper/fiber that runs between locations?

While the chances for intrusion are small with a dedicated line, it is still possible for a hacker to access your line if it runs through the standard telecom backbone.

Chas

Hi,

So if I understand you correctly, you have no links to the outside world in India and all the links on the US side of the dedicated link are protected by firewalls?

Why would you need another firewall on the dedicated link? Most people dont partition their networks with firewalls...

If you were ever going to consider opening up your end to the internet, then yes you need one - but at the point of entry...

It all depends on your level of paranoia of course...

Cheers,
Tim.

How sensitive is the data that is kept in India? Does it need to be protected from the US environment? (i.e., R&D or HR or Accounting are sometimes firewalled internally.) If it is not particularly sensitive then I wouldn't go through the extra expense. Your routers will probably provide filtering capabilities and won't cost anything extra. While not as secure as a firewall , ACL's can provide an extra level of defense for the paranoid. Also there are some good IDS and firewalls that are free in the open source community.

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