I attended the WatchGuard firewall training session “Network Security Essentials” hosted at Verus Corporation in Coon Rapids, November 12th through the 15th. The curriculum for the training session was programming their new series of firewalls. Day one consisted of orientation and setting up a new Firebox firewall, upgrading its software, and backing up its configuration using WatchGuard System Manager. Day two topics included setting up interfaces, setting up logging to a Dimension log server, and user creation and management. Day three explored such topics as threat protection setup, proxy and packet filter policy setup, network address translation, and deep packet content inspection of encrypted web traffic. At the end of day three, Verus treated the attendees to free food and drinks at a local eatery and the opportunity to meet and chat with Verus employees. Day four consisted of a walk-through of the web user interface for configuring the Firebox, an exploration of the Dimension log and report server, and a Q & A session for the attendees to get help with specific issues. Finally, there was a test prep section for those who intended to take the WatchGuard certification test. This was a lot of content to get through in only four days and it was rushed at times. I think it would have been more helpful to have spent a little more time on some topics. Despite that, I believe this training provided a solid foundation of skills to build upon. I feel more confident of my network security skills moving forward.
