Trefor wrote:
A firewall that is able to properly monitor the contents of the files passing in both directions is a very complex bit of kit.
Several HA's are bleating about firewalls in every surgery. They may only mean something that just tells you who has gone where or a
variation of the cybersitter that only allows access to http://nww.whatever addresses or recognised IP addresses. These are easy to
swith off and can be got round. Any security that makes people feel better without actually working is going to make things worse. I
am still very worried about what might happen if we all get connected and not enough clinicians understand the complexities of the
security situation. What is even more worrying is that some HA's IT people dont understand it.
I suggested a private e-mail as I thought that the list understood the problems and might be bored, various e-mails in the last few
days suggest otherwise.
Trefor
Firewall is a term used to cover a range of technologies intended to protect one segment of a network from another. Depending on what's used and how it's used this can range from the simple to the very complex.
I have been a strong supporter of the professions requirement for a firewall at the boundary of clinical domains (i.e the GP practice or clinical department). In this context we are talking about a firewall which denies access to (probably all) services running inside the domain from (nearly all) points outside the domain. Such a set up is cheap, effective and simple to maintain. It would allow email in and out and access to external services from within (web etc). Future requirements of the information Strategy will require more complex arrangements which will need much further thought, but simple firewalls allow us to move ahead and should be a central feature of GP NHSnet connection. I don't see a pressing need to use the content filtering facilities of a firewall in a GP environment. GPs have small trusted teams who are too busy to spend time surfing inappropriate sites. This latter point should not be the focus of discussion.
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