What term describes a neutral zone between a company’s internal network and an untrusted external network to prevent outsider access to private data?

What term describes a neutral zone between a company’s internal network and an untrusted external network to prevent outsider access to private data?

• A. Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
• B. Screened Subnet
• C. Hardware Firewalls
• D. Software Firewall

Answer: (A)

A buffer zone between the untrusted external network and the trusted internal network is designed to host publicly accessible services while keeping private data protected. This neutral area, the DMZ, is a dedicated subnetwork placed at the edge of the network. Public services such as web, mail, or DNS servers reside in the DMZ. The outer firewall permits only the necessary inbound connections to those services, while a separate firewall between the DMZ and the internal network enforces stricter access controls, so internal systems aren’t exposed directly to the outside. This setup helps prevent outsiders from reaching private data even if a service in the DMZ is compromised, because the internal network is insulated behind additional filtering and segmentation. In practice, terms like screened subnet describe the same concept in some architectures, but DMZ is the standard designation for this protective zone. Hardware or software firewalls are the devices that implement these protections, not the zone itself.

A buffer zone between the untrusted external network and the trusted internal network is designed to host publicly accessible services while keeping private data protected. This neutral area, the DMZ, is a dedicated subnetwork placed at the edge of the network. Public services such as web, mail, or DNS servers reside in the DMZ. The outer firewall permits only the necessary inbound connections to those services, while a separate firewall between the DMZ and the internal network enforces stricter access controls, so internal systems aren’t exposed directly to the outside.

This setup helps prevent outsiders from reaching private data even if a service in the DMZ is compromised, because the internal network is insulated behind additional filtering and segmentation. In practice, terms like screened subnet describe the same concept in some architectures, but DMZ is the standard designation for this protective zone. Hardware or software firewalls are the devices that implement these protections, not the zone itself.