We have a main office and two branch offices in two states. Ten employees each for about thirty all told. We have two or three people who sometimes work from home using a VPN. Getting a fractional T1 line in the next couple of weeks, so I’m looking for advice on security.
We currently have a DSL-based WAN connecting the three offices, largely for file sharing. (We have grand plans for an intranet someday.) Currently using Netopia routers to handle the WAN and VPN duties.
Questions:1) Knowing that the answer is probably “You can never have too much,” how much security do we need? We do not have ultra-sensitive, proprietary information (we’re a consulting firm for the water industry). I guess the question I’m getting at is if NAT and VPN on the Netopia routers is sufficient for us, or if we need to go to a higher-end solution. We use ATMP for the WAN on the Netopias.
2) If you think we need a hardware firewall solution, any recommendations? I’m currently evaluating products from Netscreen, Watchguard, SonicWall, and Cisco. The Netscreen is what Netopia’s security product was based on (now discontinued). It’s also reasonably priced, from our perspective, and seems to offer good performance. But there are yearly charges for hardware and software support that I’m not particularly thrilled about.
Thanks in advance for your help.
