Firewalls serve as a barrier between your internal network and hackers. They also inhibit the transmission of hazardous agents like Trojans and viruses that damage your computer systems or reveal confidential information to unauthorized parties.
Packet filtering firewalls assess each data packet based on its source, destination, and basic protocol information. More advanced firewall technologies like stateful inspection allow or block incoming and outgoing connections based on the status of existing relationships.
Protection From Malicious Attacks
Firewalls guard your company’s network devices and the outside world. They monitor all the data in and out of your system to protect against recognizable threats and malicious data. These guardians can block trojan attacks, which are small pieces of software that attach themselves to your files and collect data, sending it to an unsuspecting target.
These security systems monitor the four layers of transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) communication: application, transport, network, and hardware/data link. The more advanced the firewall, the more layers it can monitor, providing granular traffic controls and protection against cyber threats.
Now, how do firewalls work? A firewall’s ability to block certain types of viruses is one of its most essential functions. These viruses can damage your company’s infrastructure, shut down operations and potentially lead to expensive litigation. Firewalls can block these types of viruses by checking all incoming data and only allowing data that match pre-set rules.
As networks grow and more devices connect, more robust access control and security at the host are required. These needs led to the developing of next-generation firewalls (NGFW), which combine traditional firewall capabilities with application awareness and an intrusion prevention system. These systems filter packets statefully, maintaining a table that stores all existing connections and their status. When a new package comes in, it compares the header to the state table and either allows or denies it based on the connection status.
Logging
Keeping a close eye on the data coming into and out of your systems is a critical first step to protecting your company from hackers and malicious payloads. Firewalls can monitor this data and use pre-established rules to prevent threats from gaining entry.
Firewalls filter network traffic based on rules that determine whether a data packet is allowed or denied based on the source and destination address of the box, what application protocols are being used to transfer the data, and other information. This will enable administrators to limit unauthorized access by preventing unauthenticated connections and blocking traffic to or from specific devices.
An early type of firewall device, circuit-level gateway firewalls hide networks from hackers and permit only authorized traffic to enter or leave. Each played a role in the late 1980s in developing the packet-filtering technology that would be valuable in future firewall products.
As your business moves toward digital operations, you must protect your data and systems from thieves and criminals who want to steal your sensitive information or take over your designs. Firewalls offer a first line of defense against these unwanted intruders, and they can help stop them from stealing your data or taking over your plan for financial gain. The latest generation of firewalls offers advanced logging and threat analysis features that provide even more granular protection for your company.
Configuration
There are several types of firewalls that you can install and use in your network. A packet filtering firewall controls data flow to and from a network by checking individual data packets based on where they’re coming from, where they’re going, and the application protocols used to transfer them. It uses a preconfigured set of rules to decide whether each packet should be allowed into your network or blocked. This type of firewall can be vulnerable to attacks that exploit established connections, such as denial of service (DoS) attacks.
A network-level firewall filters incoming traffic according to the source computer’s IP address, service request, and ports. It also oversees and categorizes all the communication that’s taking place between your network and the outside world. Network-level firewalls can be based on either hardware or software.
Firewalls that filter incoming traffic based on its payload — its contents – can identify malicious code such as viruses or Trojan horses. However, even if they successfully halt connection attempts that carry these threats, you’ll need a robust antivirus protection suite to clean up any malware that does manage to make it inside your network.
Packet filtering, stateful inspection, and proxy firewalls have unique roles in network security. Some developed the original packet-filtering firewall, followed by the invention of security proxies, the first widely-adopted commercial firewall product.
Monitoring
Firewalls are one of many security tools that can help prevent cyber attacks and protect sensitive information. They are barriers to validating network system access by filtering incoming traffic and packets against preconfigured rules. They are typically inserted inline across the borders of network connections or placed on individual computer endpoints (hosts).
Different types of firewalls are based on how they inspect and filter incoming traffic. For example, stateful inspection firewalls begin at the transport layer of the standardized Open Systems Interconnection model and monitor ongoing connections using a state table to allow or block traffic based on technical properties like port numbers. Packet-filtering firewalls operate at a lower level but filter incoming connections by specific packet header information.
A common type of firewall is a deep packet inspection (DPI) firewall, which examines the content of each packet to detect malicious code disguised as lawful information. This gives security engineers granular control to prevent more sophisticated attacks that bypass packet-filtering and stateful inspection firewalls.
In addition to blocking attacks, firewalls can identify malware attempting to enter the system from an existing connection and alert security personnel. This allows them to respond to mitigate damage and prevent future incidents quickly. However, it is essential to note that firewalls cannot anticipate human intent. Therefore, a complete security suite with antivirus protection is still needed to clean up any viruses or malware that slip through and are not blocked by the firewall.
