Firewalls

Firewalls

A firewall is a networking device, either hardware or software based, that controls access to your organization’s network. This controlled access is designed to protect data and resources from an outside threat. To do this, firewalls are typically placed at entry/exit points of a network—for example, placing a firewall between an internal network and the Internet. Once there, it can control access in and out of that point.
Although firewalls typically protect internal networks from public networks, they are also used to control access between specific network segments within a network—for example, placing a firewall between the Accounts and the Sales departments.

As mentioned, firewalls can be implemented through software or through a dedicated hardware device. Organizations implement software firewalls through network operating systems (NOS) such as Linux/UNIX, Windows servers, and Mac OS servers. The firewall is configured on the server to allow or permit certain types of network traffic. In small offices and for regular home use, a firewall is commonly installed on the local system and configured to control traffic. Many third-party firewalls are available.
Hardware firewalls are used in networks of all sizes today. Hardware firewalls are often dedicated network devices that can be implemented with very little configuration and protect all systems behind the firewall from outside sources. Hardware firewalls are readily available and often combined with other devices today. For example, many broadband routers and wireless access points have firewall functionality built in. In such case, the router or WAP might have a number of ports available to plug systems in to.