What are Firewalls? Is a cybersecurity tool (cyber security) that is used to filter traffic on a network. The main purpose of a firewall is to block malicious or approximately threatening traffic requests and data packets, while allowing legitimate traffic.

Firewalls can be software, hardware, or cloud-based, with each type of firewall having its own advantages and disadvantages. Computers, especially those connected to a network, are very vulnerable to being hacked. For that, the computer must have a network protector called a firewall. Especially if it’s a company or business computer full of important data.

Sometimes it is a challenge to choose Comarch the right firewall, because there are many types of firewalls. Each firewall has different features and configuration methods, so you should know which type your computer needs the most.

1. Packet-Filtering Firewall

Packet-Filtering Firewall is a mechanism that can block network data packets based on rules that have been set by the user. With this security technology, data packets will be sorted which can enter and which will be blocked.

Suspicious network traffic such as unknown IP addresses, strange TCP/UDP numbers, applications that the program thinks are harmful, and so on, will be blocked by Firewall Filters. Actually this filtering already exists as a basic feature of each OS such as Linux and Windows.

Because this is the oldest type of firewall or the first to exist, the way it works is the simplest. The firewall will check for data packets milling about in router traffic or switch traffic.

Checks include the packet type, port number, IP address (destination and origin), and surface level information without opening the data packet. If the packet does not pass the firewall inspection from the grid, then the packet will be rejected and discarded.

The advantage of Packet-Filtering Firewall is that it doesn’t require a lot of resources, which means it doesn’t have a big impact on your computer’s performance. The drawback is that this firewall is less accurate than current firewalls whose technology is definitely more sophisticated.

2. Circuit-Level Gateway

A Circuit Level Gateway is another simple type of firewall that is meant for quick and easy work of approving or denying traffic, without using up significant computing resources.

The main function of this firewall is to verify the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The TCP handshake check (the process of establishing a TCP connection) is designed to ensure that the session from the packet is legitimate.

Although very resource efficient, this firewall does not check incoming and outgoing packets. So, if for example a packet contains malware, but has the proper TCP handshake, the packet will pass. This is why Circuit-Level Gateways are not sufficient to protect computers used for business.

3. Stateful Inspection Firewall

Stateful Inspection Firewall is a network in charge of tracking the characteristics and operating conditions of the network. This type of firewall is configured to discriminate between ‘good’ and worthy network packets across different types of connections.

This firewall combines packet inspection technology and TCP handshake verification to create a higher level of protection than when you are not using it.

However, this type of firewall puts more pressure on computing resources. Thus, it can slow down the transfer of legitimate packets compared to other firewalls.

4. Proxy Firewall

Proxy Firewall is actually the same as Application-Level Gateway or Cloud Firewall. Proxy firewall aka proxy firewall operates at the application layer to filter incoming traffic between your network and traffic sources. That’s why it’s called Application-Level Gateway (application level gateway).

This firewall is delivered via a cloud based solution or other proxy device. Not letting traffic connect directly, the proxy firewall first establishes a connection to the traffic source and checks the incoming data packets, so it’s really well filtered.

The way it works is actually similar to a stateful inspection firewall in that it checks for packets and the TCP handshake protocol. However, the proxy firewall also performs a layer inspection in the packet, examining the contents of the information packet to verify that the packet does not contain malware. After the check is complete, the package will be approved by the Proxy to advance to the destination.

In short, a Proxy Firewall creates an extra layer of separation between the client (the system from which the data packets originate) and the individual devices on your network. Provides additional protection for the network anonymously.

One disadvantage of proxy firewalls is that they can significantly slow down computer networks because there are additional steps in the process of sending data packets.

5. Next-Generation Firewall

Next-Generation Firewall, from the name you may have guessed. There are many firewall products that have recently been released and are referred to as New Generation Firewalls. Some of the common features of this new generation firewall architecture are deep packet inspection (checking the actual contents of data packets), TCP handshake checking, and surface-level packet inspection. So far it works the same as Proxy https://www.comarch.com/telecommunications/ai-ml-driven-network-efficiency/

The difference is, this new generation of firewalls can include other technologies, such as an intrusion prevention system (IPS), which functions to stop attacks on your network automatically. So it automatically detects the problem, fixes the problem right away.

The problem is, there really isn’t a ‘new generation firewall’ product. This is just the name of the insert written by the manufacturer. So, you have to review carefully the specifications of the firewall you choose before investing there.

6. Firewall software

Next, there is the Software Firewall. Often mistaken for an antivirus, this is a Software Firewall. It actually makes sense that people would mistake these two things, because both firewall and antivirus software are mechanisms that provide security for the system.

The difference is that a firewall helps control network traffic in the system by acting as a barrier (filter) for incoming traffic. While the antivirus works to protect the system against internal attacks by searching for malicious files and viruses and then deleting them.

In essence, both firewalls and antiviruses are part of cyber security that will protect the system. The big difference is only in how they operate and work.

Firewall software includes all types of firewalls installed on the device. The benefit of this type of firewall is that it is very useful for creating deep defenses by isolating individual network endpoints from both directions. The downside is that maintaining individual software firewalls on different devices can be difficult and time consuming.

Also, not every device on the network is compatible with a single firewall software, so you may have to use several different firewall software for each computer.

7. Hardware Firewall

Previously there was a Software Firewall, now there is a Hardware Firewall. This type of firewall uses physical tools that act in a similar way to a traffic router. The way it works is to intercept data packets and traffic requests before they connect to the network server.

Physical device-based firewalls like these excel at perimeter security by ensuring malicious traffic from outside the network is stopped before your network endpoints are exposed to risk.

However, there are also major drawbacks to hardware-based firewalls. That is easily attacked by ‘insiders’. And, keep in mind that the capabilities of each hardware firewall vary by manufacturer. Some may have a more limited capacity to handle simultaneous connections than others. So, make sure you choose a Hardware Firewall from the recommended brand and type.

8. Cloud Firewall

Finally, there is the Cloud Firewall aka Firewall-as-a-Service (FaaS). This type of firewall is considered the same as Prozy Firewall, because cloud servers are often used in proxy firewall settings. Although, actually, the proxy doesn’t always have to be in the cloud.

The benefit of a cloud-based firewall is that it is very easy to add or remove. As your needs increase, you can add additional capacity to the cloud server to filter out larger traffic loads. So, just like Hardware Firewalls, Cloud Firewalls excel at perimeter security.