The Security Configuration Wizard ( SCW) can be used as a standalone tool or to help configure a Group Policy Object (GPO) for applying firewall settings across multiple servers. Windows Server has a couple of tools that can help configure Windows Firewall to ensure that your server is functional. Windows Firewall is also useful in defending against denial of service attacks, which bombard a server with network traffic in an attempt to crash it or simply make it unavailable to the rest of the network. Any infected machine that gets access to your corporate intranet can potentially make a connection to an unprotected server and compromise it by exposing a vulnerability in a Windows service or 3 rd-party application. In situations where it was considered unnecessary, removing it from the equation was the easiest way to get systems up and running quickly.įast forward to 2013, and all too often I come across servers where Windows Firewall has been switched off, either as part of the build or it’s been temporarily turned off in an attempt to resolve an issue and never re-enabled.ĭisabling Windows Firewall increases the attack surface of Windows Server. This was largely because it was considered that the network edge firewall provided enough protection for intranet devices, and system administrators didn’t know how to work with the new firewall. It was common practice to turn off Firewall in Windows as part of the build for PCs and servers on the corporate intranet. While Windows had previously included the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), it was turned off by default and offered limited functionality, so a complete endpoint firewall solution was something new for Windows administrators.
This resulted in what was known at the time as the Vista reset, putting a temporary freeze on development of Microsoft’s next operating system.ĭespite that Server 2003 and XP had only been released a couple of years before the arrival of SP2, the security landscape had changed dramatically, with Windows XP on the client side becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack.
Microsoft undertook a large-scale project to bolster security in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, including a full-featured endpoint firewall (Windows Firewall).
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