Regarding border firewalls in network security, which statement is true?

• A. It is getting easier for attackers to bypass the border firewall.
• B. It is getting harder for attackers to bypass the border firewall.
• C. Border firewalls cannot be bypassed.
• D. Bypass of border firewall is unrelated to attacker techniques.

Answer: (A)

Border security at the network edge is meant to block unwanted traffic before it enters the internal network, but its effectiveness is limited by how attackers operate and how traffic is carried today. The key idea tested is that bypassing a border firewall is feasible because much traffic is encrypted or uses legitimate services, making it hard for the firewall to see and stop everything without costly inspection.

In practice, traffic designed to look normal—HTTPS, VPNs, cloud apps, and other widely used protocols—can carry malicious activity while slipping past border controls. TLS/SSL encryption hides payloads from simple inspection unless SSL inspection is deployed, which brings privacy, performance, and trust challenges. Attackers also use tunneling techniques (for example, DNS or HTTP(S) tunneling) and compromised legitimate services to hide their actions. Misconfigurations or overly permissive rules at the border further ease bypass, and once an attacker gains a foothold, internal movement can bypass the border altogether.

That combination of encrypted or legitimate-looking traffic, evasive techniques, and imperfect firewall visibility means it’s often easier, not harder, for attackers to bypass border firewalls in real-world networks. The statements claiming it cannot be bypassed or that bypass isn’t related to attacker techniques don’t fit the reality of how border defenses are challenged today.