A network security device that does not require a separate computer for
implementation is disclosed. The device may be in the form of a boxed
hardware component and may be configured from an HTML interface. The
device contains and uses three network cards. The first two cards are
used for the firewall. A third card is a management interface having a
private, non publicly routed IP address. A first network card forwards
packets to a packet filter. Packets which pass the packet filter are then
forwarded to a second network card and subsequently to their destination.
None of the three network cards have a publicly routed IP address. The
device acts as a packet filter that bridges rather than routes or
proxies. The device may be connected between a router and a hub or a
server machine.