ISA 2004 vs PIX v 7

  • From: "William Robertson" <robertson.william@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "'[ISAserver.org Discussion List]'" <isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 06:16:04 +0200

Hi there

I am in a position where I have to explain the advantages/disadvantages of
the new ISA 2004 and the PIX ver 7 that has just been released.

To me the critical component here is that both products claim to perform
application security or packet/content inspection up to layer 7.

I have just returned from Tech-Ed South Africa, and have seen the way in
which ISA2004 can inspect HTTP packets for specific words, lengths etc. What
I want to know is:

1. Does ISA scan non-HTTP packets as well? I.e. SMB, SSL (I would think/hope
not...)

2. Does anyone know the boundaries of the new ASA5500, or even the PIX ver 7
which has just been released, which claims to perform the exact same thing?

3. Is there a way in which I, a simple naïve admin, can setup some malicious
packets to push through these 2 firewalls to in fact show how they do/don't
work on layer 7 scanning?

Thanks
William R.




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