Dealing with a public data breach or any type of hack is one of the most difficult challenges a company can face. A data breach can take up to three-quarters of a year to detect and contain, according to IBM. Yikes! Businesses invest a significant amount of money and energy to address cybersecurity issues. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to stop cyber-attacks in their tracks and never let them in the first place? Fortunately, numerous tools may assist with this, perhaps none more so than a firewall. (Fortigate Firewall)
Firewalls are an important part of almost any company’s cybersecurity arsenal. Firewalls can help businesses of all sizes protect their important information.
So, after all of this hype about how fantastic firewalls are, you’re probably wondering, “What exactly does a firewall do?” You’ve arrived to the correct location. We answer the question “what does a firewall do?” in this post. We’ll start with an explanation of what this tool is, as well as some of the most significant firewall kinds to be aware of.
So, what exactly is a firewall and what does it do?
I’m glad you inquired. A firewall is a cybersecurity solution that safeguards your network by monitoring, filtering, and restricting traffic entering and exiting it. In a nutshell, a firewall acts as a barrier to ensure that only good traffic enters and bad (malicious) traffic does not. It accomplishes this by distinguishing between trusted and untrusted traffic and taking appropriate action.
Consider a firewall as a sentry responsible for raising and lowering a castle drawbridge. It is their responsibility to check and oversee all traffic entering and exiting the castle. If they notice someone strange or unauthorised attempting to enter or leave the castle, they can either let or prevent the suspected individual (or people) from doing so. Firewalls are similar to routers, but they protect data rather than people.
One or more levels of your cybersecurity protection include firewalls. They assist in the defence of your network against a variety of threats, including malware and brute force attacks. A firewall secures the devices that are linked to your network by preventing illegal access from the internet. This might include your laptops, servers, and linked gadgets like wireless printers and smart thermostats for businesses. Indeed, a useful and required tool!
The Operation of Firewalls
Firewalls, in a nutshell, examine all incoming and outgoing traffic. They track and log traffic to keep track of successful and unsuccessful attacks, and they also feature alarms that notify you of potential breaches. But how do firewalls tell the difference between trusted and untrusted traffic? It’s all about the information they deliver.
To comprehend how firewalls function, you must first comprehend how data travels across the internet. Data is transmitted in packets (also known as “data packets”), which are little pieces of data that are stitched together to form a larger body of information. These data packets are passed from one device to the next (often through multiple routers and servers). This movie will give you a fair sense of how data is transmitted across the internet:
packet-filtering firewall
Before allowing these packets into the network, a firewall known as a packet-filtering firewall will deconstruct crucial information in them (particularly the header and payload). Based on a set of rules, firewalls know what to look for in these packets. These guidelines assist them in distinguishing between good (trusted) and bad (untrusted) traffic. In addition to packet-filtering firewalls, there are a variety of other types of firewalls to be aware of. In a moment, we’ll go through each sort of firewall in further detail. But for now, just know that they are available in both hardware and software formats.
Firewalls can also be implemented in different aspects of your infrastructure, such as your network, cloud, and endpoints like your computers. And they’re everywhere, from your personal computer’s antivirus software to your company’s networks. However, the basic function of a firewall remains the same: it protects your network by filtering out potentially harmful data while allowing permitted traffic in. The manner in which they do so varies from one firewall to the next.
To further understand “what does a firewall do?” in terms of how different firewalls work, we’ll need to look into these firewall variations.
Hardware and software firewalls are two types of firewalls.
Hardware and software firewalls are two types of firewalls to be aware of. A hardware firewall, as the name implies, is a physical device that filters network traffic in the same way that a traffic router does. Its function is to secure networks and endpoints. Hardware firewalls, on the other hand, seek to safeguard your entire network with only one device. As a result, they are vulnerable to attacks on the network’s interrelated relationships.
A more granular option would be to use software firewalls, which would entail installing a firewall on current individual local devices. A software firewall, which is typically find in antivirus software and operating systems, works in the same way as a hardware firewall. It inspects and filters traffic for that particular endpoint device only. Is there a benefit to using one over the other? Using both hardware and software firewalls to establish levels of security is a common strategy for large networks.
Learn More: Fortigate Firewall
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