firewall machine

n. A dedicated gateway machine with special security precautions on it, used
to service outside network connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to
protect a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden behind it
from cracker s. The typical firewall is an inexpensive micro-based Unix box
kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and public network ports
on it but just one carefully watched connection back to the rest of the
cluster. The special precautions may include threat monitoring, callback,
and even a complete iron box keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity
patterns. Syn. flytrap , Venus flytrap. See also wild side. [When first
coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon.

