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EntityQ1074209· pop 35· linked from 50 articles

Also known as demilitarized zone

subnetwork of a system exposed to external world

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

In computer security, a DMZ or demilitarized zone (sometimes referred to as a perimeter network or screened subnet) is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted, usually larger, network such as the Internet. The purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to an organization's local area network (LAN): an external network node can access only what is exposed in the DMZ, while the rest of the organization's network is protected behind a firewall. The DMZ functions as a small, isolated network positioned between the Internet and the private network.

This is not to be confused with a DMZ host, a feature present in some home routers that frequently differs greatly from an ordinary DMZ.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “DMZ” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.