Signatures
Figure shows what the Signatures form looks like after you edit a group of signatures. Notice how the entries in the Enabled column show that the signatures are no longer active. After you deliver the configuration to the Cisco IOS router, you can verify the current settings by viewing the signatures in the respective category. In the example, you see that all UNIX-related signatures have been disabled.
Content 6.6 Threat Defense Lab Exercises 6.6.1 Lab 6.1 Configuring a Cisco IOS Firewall Using SDM Lab Activity Lab Exercise: Lab 6.1 Configuring a Cisco IOS Firewall Using SDM In this lab, you will configure a perimeter router for International Travel Agency (ITA) using Security Device Manager (SDM). The SDM firewall wizard allows you to create a relatively strong firewall configuration in a few simple configuration steps. Each router represents a router in a large corporate network scenario. The ISP router is an ISP edge router connected to the ITA corporate firewall, and the ISP’s loopback is a remote internet network. FW is a corporate firewall router, and its loopback interface is a demilitarized zone (DMZ) where Internet-facing servers reside. INSIDE is an internal corporate router, and its loopback is a subnet within the internal corporate domain.
Content 6.6 Threat Defense Lab Exercises 6.6.2 Lab 6.2 Configuring CBAC Lab Activity Lab Exercise: Lab 6.2 Configuring CBAC Context-based access control (CBAC) is a powerful tool in the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set. It allows stateful packet inspection of certain types of attacks. In this lab, INSIDE represents an inside corporate router, OUTSIDE represents an outside Internet or ISP router, and FW represents the corporate firewall. CBAC alone is not enough to make a router into a secure Internet firewall, but in addition to other security features it can be a very powerful defense.
Content 6.6 Threat Defense Lab Exercises 6.6.3 Lab 6.3 Configuring IPS with SDM Lab Activity Lab Exercise: Lab 6.3 Configuring IPS with SDM In this lab, you will configure the Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), which is part of the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set. IPS examines certain attack patterns and will alert and/or mitigate when those patterns occur. In this scenario, TRUSTED represents a trusted inside router, FW represents a router serving as an intrusion prevention router, and UNTRUSTED represents an untrusted outside router. Since UNTRUSTED is outside, FW will examine packets inbound from it. IPS alone is not enough to make a router into a secure Internet firewall, but in addition to other security features, it can be a powerful defense.
Content 6.6 Threat Defense Lab Exercises 6.6.4 Lab 6.4 Configuring IPS with CLI Lab Activity Lab Exercise: Lab 6.4 Configuring IPS with CLI In this lab, you will configure the Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), which is part of the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set. IPS examines certain attack patterns and will alert and/or mitigate when those patterns occur. In this scenario, TRUSTED represents a trusted inside router, FW represents a router serving as an intrusion prevention router, and UNTRUSTED represents an untrusted outside router. Since UNTRUSTED is outside, FW will examine packets inbound from it. IPS alone is not enough to make a router into a secure Internet firewall, but in addition to other security features it can be a powerful defense.
Content Summary This module covered the design and implementation of the Cisco IOS Firewall and Cisco IOS intrusion prevention system (IPS). It described the most common firewall technologies, such as packet filtering, stateful firewalls, and application-layer filtering. It also introduced various firewall topologies, showing that a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)-based approach offers the best defense and scalability options.

The concept of stateful firewalls was explained, along with an explanation of how this firewall is implemented Cisco IOS routers, called the Cisco IOS Firewall. The module described the two Cisco IOS Firewall configuration methods: command-line interface (CLI) and the Security Device Manager (SDM). The discussion of SDM included the Basic and Advanced Firewall Configuration wizards. Further, intrusion detection system (IDS) and IPS were described as complementary technologies. These technologies differ in the actions they take when an attack is detected, in their placement in the network, and in the signature coverage scope. The module described the two Cisco IOS IPS configuration methods using use the CLI and the SDM wizard for deployment simplicity.