Introduction

In this chapter we start getting into the nuts and bolts of ISA Server. We begin our configuration foray with a deep exploration into the setup involved in secure outbound access from your internal network. Secure outbound access allows you to control the material that internal users and applications can access via your Internet connection and provides you a granular method to control who can access particular sites, content, and protocols and when they can access these elements.

The ability to control outbound access is critical to your network security scheme. In the past, corporations allowed almost unfettered access to Internet resources and didn t exhibit much concern about what their employees were doing on the Internet. Managers assumed that users would limit themselves to viewing content directly related to their jobs and that they would refrain from accessing Web sites that were recreational in nature.

Many companies have been burned by these early policies. Unrestricted access to the Internet invites abuse of the network infrastructure. Here are some examples of the ways in which a company can get into trouble by not limiting Internet access:

• Network bandwidth saturation due to file-sharing applications such as Napster.

• Legal ramifications from employees visiting objectionable Web sites, such as pornography sites. Other employees could inadvertently (or perhaps purposely) view this content on the offending user s computer and try to capitalize on what they claim to be a hostile work environment.

• Users accessing sports, entertainment, and multimedia sites. These sites allow employees to...