What Is Firewall Protection?
On the Internet, there are many places and sites to see, with most having lots of information about goods, services and other issues. People can also interact with others through conversations on the Internet. Unfortunately, there are also people and places with malicious intent on the Internet as well, out to do things ranging from taking personal information from you to controlling your computer to send spam to other people. A firewall is best line of defense users have against these attacks. There are two types of firewalls, but they both essentially work in the same way.
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Definition
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A firewall is either a type of software or physical device that sits between a computer and the Internet. Its purpose is to regulate the Internet connection, allowing certain traffic to enter and exit the computer while keeping other certain connections from doing the same. It accomplishes this by either analyzing every bit of data sent and received from a computer, regulating programs or acting as a proxy server, meaning that all traffic is sent through another server before it reaches its destination.
How It Works
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Computers connect to other devices and places such as the Internet through a series of ports. Computers have 65,535 ports, which essentially means there are 65,535 ways to hack into a computer. Firewalls work by closing ports that are unused by the computer, as well as regulating the traffic in ports frequently used by the computer. Many firewalls, especially the ones designed for use by homes or small businesses, are intuitive and innately know which programs are OK and which ones need to be blocked.
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Software Firewalls
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There are two different types of firewalls: software and hardware. Most modern operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, come with their own firewalls, which require minimal work to set up. Commercial software firewalls are usually more powerful than the one that comes with the operating system. They typically install through a CD or Internet download and are also relatively simple to set up.
Hardware Firewalls
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The other type of firewall is a hardware firewall. A hardware firewall is a physical device that connects to a computer and is configurable through connection to it, either using an Internet browser or through a command line interface. Hardware firewalls are usually more expensive than their software counter-types and are also much more difficult for the average user to configure. But the trade-off lies in the amount of power available in the hardware firewall.
Router Firewall
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An offshoot of the hardware firewall, many users who have routers simply use the router to serve as a firewall. A router can block access to ports just as easily as a software or hardware firewall can. A router-based firewall lies in the middle level of difficulty between software and hardware firewalls. It is suggested that you consult your router's manual or do research before attempting to set up such a firewall.
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