Book Image

Network Security with pfSense

By : Manuj Aggarwal
Book Image

Network Security with pfSense

By: Manuj Aggarwal

Overview of this book

While connected to the internet, you’re a potential target for an array of cyber threats, such as hackers, keyloggers, and Trojans that attack through unpatched security holes. A firewall works as a barrier (or ‘shield’) between your computer and cyberspace. pfSense is highly versatile firewall software. With thousands of enterprises using pfSense, it is fast becoming the world's most trusted open source network security solution. Network Security with pfSense begins with an introduction to pfSense, where you will gain an understanding of what pfSense is, its key features, and advantages. Next, you will learn how to configure pfSense as a firewall and create and manage firewall rules. As you make your way through the chapters, you will test pfSense for failover and load balancing across multiple wide area network (WAN) connections. You will then configure pfSense with OpenVPN for secure remote connectivity and implement IPsec VPN tunnels with pfSense. In the concluding chapters, you’ll understand how to configure and integrate pfSense as a Squid proxy server. By the end of this book, you will be able to leverage the power of pfSense to build a secure network.
Table of Contents (7 chapters)

IPsec VPN tunnel implementation

Let's look at an IPSec VPN tunnel implementation example:

The cloud icon represents a public unsecured network, say the Internet. Let's say there are two remote office sites, Site A and Site B. This could be two branch offices of a company situated in different cities or even different countries. Both of these remote sites have their own independent ISP connections. They also have a local pfSense firewall implemented in remote locations. Similarly, they also have an internal LAN, consisting of various internal network devices. Site A has the internal IP address range of 192.168.1.0/24. Site B has the internal IP address range of 192.168.2.0/24. In this scenario, these two sites are protecting their local internet networks with an installation of pfSense. But what if these two sites need to connect to each other? Or all the branch offices...