Life in a Post TMG World – Is It As Scary As You Think?

There are too many false assumptions to rebut here. First, and probably most importantly, load balancers are not hardened devices. Of course, they act to proxy tcp ports to another device (such as Exchange) but they aren't necessarily hardened to protect themselves from attack. Should they be? Of course. Why aren't they then? Most likely, it is the usual excuse. Developers spend their time coding in new functionality and not necessarily security. I don't know ANY load balancer that recommends running it directly on the internet. Second, comparing a firewall to a car is completely insane. Sure, your car might keep running after the warranty expires. Your firewall, however, requires constant updates to secure against the latest threats. Even thought we will continue to use our TMG firewall for the foreseeable future, the lack of any code updates such as service packs or even any more rollups definitely causes concern.