Should the government reduce its external Internet connections?

Should the government reduce its external Internet connections?

Is the federal government's plan to reduce its number of external Internet connections from 8,000 to fewer than 100 a feasible one? What security risks are increased with such a move?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    SearchSecurity.com members gain immediate and unlimited access to breaking industry news, virus alerts, new hacker threats, highly focused security newsletters, and more -- all at no cost. Join me on SearchSecurity.com today!

    Michael S. Mimoso, Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchSecurity.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchSecurity.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

Last summer, the federal government announced a plan to gradually reduce its number of Internet connections to less than 100 in an attempt to reduce their susceptibility to attack. Yes, it certainly is a feasible move, and it's a lesson that every enterprise should take to heart.

The fewer external points of access there are on a network, the easier it is to secure the network against external attack. Each connection, which should require a properly configured firewall, introduces one more door that a malicious hacker could break down, so to speak.

As far as security risks, I can only think of one: the introduction of more consolidated single points of failure. That is, if one connection fails, a larger portion of the government will be affected by the outage. However, this availability concern is easily overshadowed by the security improvements gained by reducing the complexity of the network.

Still, through the judicious use of connection sharing and VPN links between sites, it's possible -- and recommended -- for enterprises to consolidate external network connections to a manageable number.

More information:

  • See why some House legislators have ripped the cyberinitiative plan.
  • This was first published in February 2009