A firewall can be hardware or software that monitors and regulates regular traffic. If it detects suspicious activity, it blocks that traffic, preserving the integrity of your network.

Also, you will need to test the performance of your firewalls at regular intervals and have redundant firewalls with an automatic failover feature in place in case of any firewall failures. This will help you protect your network from vulnerabilities and threats.

This article will help you gain a comprehensive understanding of firewalls and their role in protecting your network.

Also Read: 7 Tips for Extra Domain Protection from Cyberthreats

What Is a Firewall?

A firewall is a network security tool, either hardware or software that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing traffic based on predefined security rules. The Australian market for firewalls as a service is expected to grow rapidly, with a 23.8% annual increase, reaching $567.7 million by 2030. This highlights the importance of firewalls in protecting networks from unauthorised access. These rules help the firewall accept, reject, or block a given traffic.

  • Accept: Allowing the traffic
  • Reject: Blocking the traffic with a message – ‘unreachable error’
  • Block: Blocking the traffic without any message

Types of Firewall

Different types of firewalls filter traffic differently. While the core technology of firewalls has been passed down through the generations, each new version is designed to perform better than the previous one.

Packet Filtering

This type of firewall controls incoming and outgoing traffic by evaluating the packet’s source address, application protocols, and destination address.

Proxy Service Firewall

When you use this type of firewall, your website’s traffic is filtered at the application layer. Thus, a proxy firewall acts as a gateway between two networks for a particular application.

Stateful Inspection

You provide predefined rules and context for this type of firewall-supported website protection. Then, your firewall allows or blocks network traffic based on the protocol, port, and state.

Next-Generation Firewall

This is a deep-packet inspection firewall because it adds application-level inspection and intrusion prevention. Also, it uses information from outside the firewall to identify and respond to threats.

Software Firewall

This refers to any firewall set up locally or on a cloud server. A software firewall is best suited for controlling the inflow and outflow of data packets and limiting the number of networks that can be linked to a single device. However, they tend to be time-consuming.

Hardware Firewall

Think of a hardware firewall as a security guard between your network and the outside world. It inspects every data packet that tries to enter, ensuring that anything suspicious gets blocked before it can cause harm to your network.

Role of Firewalls in Protecting Your Network

In today’s digital age, security measures like SSL certificates, cloud backups, and firewalls are essential for protecting your network from malicious threats.

Protection Against Harmful Traffic

Firewalls are strategically placed at the center of the data or at the edge of the network, ensuring that they can monitor the traffic closely. This helps protect your network against malicious traffic, such as hackers, data manipulators, and stealers.

Real-Time Inspection of Data Packets

With the help of firewalls, you can inspect and authenticate data network packets in real-time. The best part is that they can do so at a granular level. Also, the data packets will be inspected by the predefined rules and regulations.

If the traffic does not match those guidelines, it is perceived as a threat and blocked from entering and leaving your network. Thus, firewalls can help block data from specific ports, locations, or applications.

Blocking Unauthorised Access

Firewalls are one of the most effective ways to protect your network. They block unauthorised users from accessing sensitive data and prevent malicious software from infiltrating your network or computer, safeguarding against harmful tampering.

Detecting Unusual Activity

With advanced features like automated daily site scans, online dashboards, and cleanups, Crazy Domains’ firewalls easily identify unusual activity, which is often a sign of an ongoing attack. This allows you to take preventive measures, thereby protecting your network from further damage or risks.

Integration with NAC

Firewalls integration with network access controls (NAC) and endpoint protection systems. While the former restricts access to your network based on user identity or device compliance status, the latter helps ensure that the device complies with the required security standards before accessing your network. This protects your network and keeps it resilient against evolving threats.

Conclusion

While configuring the firewall to protect your network, you must define your security policies, create specific and granular rules, and regularly update these policies and rules to align with the evolving threats.

Crazy Domains will help you secure website protection by offering advanced and helpful features like identification of malware and security holes, protection against Google blacklist sites, fully automated daily website scans, and detailed reports to help you identify where the threats are and how you can clean them up.

Take advantage of our robust firewalls and 24/7 support from security experts, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing your network is secure.