Securing the pfSense Firewall

CompTIA Security+ (SY601) Domain: 
Domain 3.0: Implementation

CompTIA Security+ (SY601) Objective Mapping: 
Objective 3.3: Given a scenario, implement secure network designs

Overview

In this lab, you will secure the pfSense Firewall by removing insecure and unneeded protocols. pfSense is an open source, BSD based, firewall that is a very popular and widely used security appliance.

Outcomes:

In this lab, you will learn to:

  1. Use nmap to scan for open ports on a pfSense firewall.
  2. Close unnecessary ports on a pfSense firewall. 
  3. Add a secure service to a pfSense firewall.
Courses

Key terms and descriptions

firewall
A firewall can block traffic or redirect traffic to hosts on the internal network. pfSense is an open source firewall that uses a BSD-based firewall.
SSH
Secure shell uses port 22 and encrypts traffic, which typically provides a terminal interface.
nmap
an open source and free scanner that allows you to determine open ports on a remote host
zenmap
a GUI port scanner that is a front end for the free and open source Nmap scanner
ping
an operating system utility that allows you to test for TCP/IP connectivity between hosts