Evaluation of the CSF Firewall

Abstract: The subject of web server security is vast, and it is becoming bigger as time passes by. Every year, researches, both private and public, are adding to the number of possible threats to the security of web servers, and coming up with possible solutions to them. A number of these solutions are considered to be expensive, complex, and incredibly time-consuming, while not able to create the perfect web to challenge any breach to the server security. In the study that follows, an attempt will be made to check whether a particular firewall can ensure a strong security measure and deal with some security breaches or severe threat to an existing web server. The research conducted has been done with the CSF Firewall, which provides a suit of scripts that ensure a portal’s security through a number of channels. The experiments conducted under the research provided extremely valuable insights about the application in hand, and the number of ways the CSF Firewall can help in safety of a portal against Secured Shell (SSH) attacks, dedicated to break the security of it, in its initial stages. It further goes to show how simple it is to actually detect the prospective attacks, and subsequently stop the Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, as well as the port scans made to the server, with the intent of breaching the security, by finding out an open port. By blocking the IP Addresses of the attackers dedicated to such an act, preventing them from creating nuisance, the CSF Firewall has been able to keep alien intrusions away from the server. It also aids in creating a secure zone for the server, to continue smoothly, while alerting the server administrators of the same, and gives them an opportunity to check those threatening IPs, and the time of attack, makes sure that the server administrators stay alert in the future, and is able to keep an eye on such attacks. In doing this, the experiment adds valuable data in the effective nature of the CSF Firewall.