firehose syndrome n.
In mainstream folklore it is observed that trying to drink
from a firehose can be a good way to rip your lips off. On
computer networks, the absence or failure of flow control
mechanisms can lead to situations in which the sending system
sprays a massive flood of packets at an unfortunate receiving
system, more than it can handle. Compare overrun, buffer overflow.
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firewall code n.
1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to
make sure that the users can't do any damage. Since users always
want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any
mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only
of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that
users don't even get curious about those corners of a system
where they can burn themselves. 2. Any sanity check inserted to
catch a can't happen error.
Wise programmers often change code to fix a bug twice: once to
fix the bug, and once to insert a firewall which would have
arrested the bug before it did quite as much damage.
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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 crackers. 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.
[When first coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon.
Now (1999) it is techspeak, and has been retained only as an
example of uptake --ESR]