The security administrator receives a service ticket saying a host based firewall is interfering with the
operation of a new application that is being tested in delevopment. The administrator asks for
clarification on which ports need to be open. The software vendor replies that it could use up to 20 ports
and many customers have disabled the host based firewall. After examining the system the administrator
sees several ports that are open for database and application servers that only used locally. The vendor
continues to recommend disabling the host based firewall. Which of the following is the best course of
action for the administrator to take?

A.
Allow ports used by the application through the network firewall

B.
Allow ports used externally through the host firewall

C.
Follow the vendor recommendations and disable the host firewall

D.
Allow ports used locally through the host firewall