Defining what a firewall is

A firewall is a piece of hardware or software that filters the network traffic between your computer, home network, or companies network and the internet. You should, in my opinion, never use the internet without being behind a firewall. This article will help define in your mind what a exactly a firewall is and how you choose the proper one for you.

Just like real world firewall a computer firewall protects your computer and network from threats out there in cyber space. A brick and mortar firewall protects you from one obvious attack, a computer firewall guards you from several different kinds of attacks. Viruses, worms, DoS attacks and hacking are occurring on a daily basis somewhere out there in cyberspace. Most times we don't know who they are but it is important that you know that they are out there. There are many groups and forums devoted just to breaking into your home network and wreaking havoc. These individuals and groups take pride in stealing your data.

So now you understand that you need a firewall to protect yourself and your data and that the best method of doing this is through a firewall. Any decent firewall prevents unwanted traffic from passing through the internet and your home network. Separating external and internal traffic on your network is the default behavior of most firewalls. Almost all firewalls today are smart enough to figure out what is accepted and what is not accepted traffic. You can control and configure how every form of network traffic travels through, or not through in the case you that you want to block traffic, your network.

What A Firewall Does

So you know generally what a firewall is but exactly what is it doing? When network traffic passed through a firewall, the firewall has a predetermined method of handling that traffic. All of this is totally definable by you. Basic operation handles incoming traffic but a good firewall will also screens outgoing as well.

A firewall typical is where your computer meets the internet. Large companies may also have them spread throughout their internal network where security between hops is vital.

The most common features of a firewall are:

To block incoming traffic based on the source or destination

Block outgoing traffic based on the source or destination

Blocks external traffic on the basis of content

Allow external connections to an internal network

Report on incoming and outgoing traffic

Choosing the right firewall for you is determined by your needs. A personal firewall is the most common and is installed as a piece of software on a home computer. This type of firewall only protects that single computer, no other computers on that network will not be protected. A small organizational firewall protects a medium sized operation and has the ability to screen traffic to a limited amount of computers. The enterprise firewall protects thousands of computers in several geographical areas. Enterprise firewall managerial tools allow the configuration of many firewalls in a single step.