Subject: RFC 3093 on Firewall Enhancement Protocol

From: RFC Editor <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 09:00:44 -0800

A new Request for Comments is now available in online RFC libraries.

        RFC 3093

        Title:	    Firewall Enhancement Protocol (FEP)
        Author(s):  M. Gaynor, S. Bradner
        Status:     Informational
	Date:       1 April 2001
        Mailbox:    [email-masked], [email-masked]
        Pages:      11
        Characters: 22405
        Updates/Obsoletes/SeeAlso:  None

        URL:        ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3093.txt

Internet Transparency via the end-to-end architecture of the Internet
has allowed vast innovation of new technologies and services [1].
However, recent developments in Firewall technology have altered this
model and have been shown to inhibit innovation.  We propose the
Firewall Enhancement Protocol (FEP) to allow innovation, without
violating the security model of a Firewall.  With no cooperation from
a firewall operator, the FEP allows ANY application to traverse a
Firewall.  Our methodology is to layer any application layer
Transmission Control Protocol/User Datagram Protocol (TCP/UDP) packets
over the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol, since HTTP
packets are typically able to transit Firewalls.  This scheme does not
violate the actual security usefulness of a Firewall, since Firewalls
are designed to thwart attacks from the outside and to ignore threats
from within.  The use of FEP is compatible with the current Firewall
security model because it requires cooperation from a host inside the
Firewall.  FEP allows the best of both worlds: the security of a
firewall, and transparent tunneling thought the firewall.

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Joyce K. Reynolds and Sandy Ginoza
USC/Information Sciences Institute

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