The hackpcweek site comprised six servers. We couldn't and had to rely on a list of log-ins and passwords stored on a laptop. If this laptop had been compromised, our entire site would have been vulnerable. After going through these tests, we cannot understate the importance of a good firewall. We used Axent Technologies Inc.'s Raptor firewall and blocked every port except Port 80 for regular HTTP traffic.
Proxying firewalls require more processing power than stateful inspection firewalls.
The Raptor firewall provides a circuit-level proxy. We chose this because it terminates both ends of a connection and acts as an arbitrator. A stateful inspection firewall, in contrast, is basically souped-up packet filtering. Administrators must also be sure to dedicate enough horsepower to their firewalls. This level of horsepower is necessary because every session going in and out of the servers has to be monitored.