Firewalls are installed on a network to ensure control on the incoming and outgoing traffic. They act as a door between secured and unsecured network and filter data based on a fixed set of rules. Usually they are a part of the antivirus software but for in depth security, companies prefer to combine different types of enterprise firewall, to ensure complete security.
Types of Firewall
Firewalls have been taking care of network security since 1980’s. Back then, they were simple packet filter systems that check the header of the incoming data for its details and accepted or rejected it based on the protocol. Firewalls are categorized based on the network they are protecting, interception point and the data form that is being intercepted. Currently, there are three types that cover almost all kinds of network security threats.
Network Layer Firewall or Packet Filters
Network layer firewalls work on the network and filter data based on the packets they arrive in. They can be both state full and stateless based on the fact whether they maintain or don’t maintain a state table of the network activity.
Application Layer Firewall
Application firewalls work on the application layer stack of TCP/IP. Thus, they can be set to inspect data flow from a particular application and scrutinize the traffic for any threats. This is an efficient option for enterprise security, with the only constraint being that application level checking ads to data transfer time.
Proxy Firewall
Proxy Firewalls use proxy servers as gateways between networks. These can be either hardware or software and are considered to be the most efficient firewall systems. Existence of a proxy server between an external and internal network makes tampering difficult. The system is so compound that even if one application is hacked, it is almost impossible to use simple hack codes to reach other internal application through it.
Conclusion
Firewalls are an essential security component when it comes to securing networks. Networks are a complicated system and protecting them from intrusion is a logically challenging task. There have been many efforts to pinpoint one particular system that can completely protect a network and it goes without saying that all the efforts have failed.
Types of Firewall
Firewalls have been taking care of network security since 1980’s. Back then, they were simple packet filter systems that check the header of the incoming data for its details and accepted or rejected it based on the protocol. Firewalls are categorized based on the network they are protecting, interception point and the data form that is being intercepted. Currently, there are three types that cover almost all kinds of network security threats.
Network Layer Firewall or Packet Filters
Network layer firewalls work on the network and filter data based on the packets they arrive in. They can be both state full and stateless based on the fact whether they maintain or don’t maintain a state table of the network activity.
Application Layer Firewall
Application firewalls work on the application layer stack of TCP/IP. Thus, they can be set to inspect data flow from a particular application and scrutinize the traffic for any threats. This is an efficient option for enterprise security, with the only constraint being that application level checking ads to data transfer time.
Proxy Firewall
Proxy Firewalls use proxy servers as gateways between networks. These can be either hardware or software and are considered to be the most efficient firewall systems. Existence of a proxy server between an external and internal network makes tampering difficult. The system is so compound that even if one application is hacked, it is almost impossible to use simple hack codes to reach other internal application through it.
Conclusion
Firewalls are an essential security component when it comes to securing networks. Networks are a complicated system and protecting them from intrusion is a logically challenging task. There have been many efforts to pinpoint one particular system that can completely protect a network and it goes without saying that all the efforts have failed.
A single firewall can never be enough against the ever growing threats on the internet. An enterprise firewall is a combination of different types of firewalls placed aptly on different levels of network, for complete protection.
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