Firewall is the device in the network that inspects and blocks all the incoming and outgoing traffic in the network deciding on the set of security rules. Because the Army is the country’s first line of defense, so are the firewalls are also considered the network’s first line of security and defense system. This type of equipment has been around for almost 25 years and it is widely used in the technological industry. Like internet, they are used to create a wall between controlled and secured internal networks which are not trusted outside it’s network and trusted inside of it.
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Importance of firewall
Being vulnerable to security threats and vulnerabilities is no longer an option due to the invention called “firewalls”. a device that is offered Multiple vendors offer solutions to defeat cybersecurity attacks such as DDoS, privilege escalation, etc. Every organization is operating through its IT systems to ease the collaboration and simplify its operations across the internet. With all these advantages of the internet, there is a downfall to it, such as the attackers that are trying to exploit or access sensitive data, malware, and do fraudulent activities. Hence, firewalls are necessary devices to protect against such threats and mitigate the risk of exposing millions of sets of data and losing huge financial amounts.
firewalls can be :-
- Hardware: It is a physical device that is more like a server which filters out the traffic that is going out to a host or computer
- Software: Installed firewall as a software on the computer to identify malicious traffic and prevent access that is not permitted.
- Software-as-a-Service: It is a firewall that is designed to protect Software as a Service(SaaS) applications such as document sharing platforms, email, and tools used for collaboration.
- Public Cloud: these are devices that are deployed in the cloud. Generally, these are meant to provide the same capabilities as the hardware firewall.
- Private Cloud: The private cloud firewall is designed for the protection of breaches of security that are occurring and unauthorized accesses within the private cloud.
- Private Cloud (virtual): This is a virtualized firewall that is implemented in the private cloud to protect against recurring cyber attacks.
What are the types of Firewall?
- Proxy firewall
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The first version of firewall devices were proxy firewalls, which acted as the gateway from one point to another for one application in the network. Proxy serves have extra features such as caching content, and it prevents direct connections that are coming into the network externally.
- Packet filtering
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This is a firewall that analyzes tiny sets of data and distributes it in accordance of standards of the filter.
- Stateful Inspection Firewall
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Allowing or blocking the based on the port, protocol, and state is called stateful inspection firewall. This provides inspection of connections that are open, and it continues until they are closed. In this firewall, rules can be defined based on previous connections and packets by the administrator.
- Unified Threat Management (UTM)
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take the definition of a stateful inspection firewall and combine the anti-virus and intrusion prevention technology; it will be defined as a UTM firewall. Cloud management and additional services can be included as well. Easy to use is what UTM is focused on.
- NGFW (Next Generation Firewalls)
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Mostly, tech giants are implementing this type of device. a firewall that provides application-layer defense mechanisms and advanced malware. Also, one of its features is that it comes with an intrusion prevention system and filters URLs based on reputation and Geo-location.
- Threat-focused Next Generation Firewall
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This firewall has the capability of typical NFGW, plus it gives advanced protection against real-time threat detection and remediation. It also decreases the time spent cleaning up the detection.
- Virtual Firewalls
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These firewalls are deployed virtually on a private or public cloud, such as (Microsoft Hyper-V or Amazon Web Services) for securing the traffic of the virtual or physical networks.
How to use firewall protection
Technical expertise is required to deal with the implementation, settings, and configuration of firewalls. Routine maintenance and proper setup will keep the firewall in its best form.
Firewall Update
The cybercriminals are proactively searching for systems that are not patched. Software patches are the necessities of firewall protection against any zero-day vulnerabilities. Users at home can easily and safely apply the new updates. Huge organizations will have to check the configuration that has been set on their network to smoothly apply changes.
Antivirus
Only firewalls can provide defense against viruses and malware. Some of them can pass the firewall and result in a breach; an anti-virus will be the ideal solution to put a stop to such attacks.
Ports and Hosts Limit
Maintaining a list that has the IPs that are white will be a better practice for protection. Users should only access what they are privileged for—zero-trust can be an example—to understand it better. Disabling accesses that are not on the list of necessities is also a way to mitigate damage occurring from cyber threats.
Network Segmentation
Protecting against lateral movement through malicious actors is a straight route to take to limit internal cross-communication.
Avoid downtime
backups of different network hosts are of great importance in the cybersecurity field, and it is also a pro tip in firewall protection. By doing so, data loss will be prevented during an incident.
