Page 140 - DCAP309_INFORMATION_SECURITY_AND_PRIVACY

Information Security and Privacy

Notes examines packets traveling into and out of the network. The device then verifies a list of previously
mentioned access rules to observe if it should permit the packet to carry on to its destination, or
if the packet should be unnecessary. There are a number of benefits to by means of hardware
firewalls. The devices do not rely on general operating systems, for instance Microsoft Windows
or Linux, so they are resistant to the seemingly infinite number of bugs, viruses, and other
malicious attacks that those operating systems undergo from. Hardware firewalls also carry out
much improved (faster) than a software dependent solution, and are much more scalable –
additional devices can be added as required with relative simplicity. Performance should be one
of the key considerations when choosing a firewall solution because of the fact that all network
traffic traveling into and out of the organization’s network will pass via the device and it takes
time and processing overhead to examine each packet to determine what requires to be done
with it. Another benefit is that hardware firewalls only perform firewall associated duties and
are not loaded with other tasks. This type of single-purpose functionality permits these hardware
devices to execute their designed tasks much more successfully than a multi-function software
dependent solution. Counter to the benefits, hardware firewalls also undergo from a number of
disadvantages.

Example: If the device goes down, all inbound and outbound network traffic discontinues,
which can be operationally intolerable to an organization. Also, due to their proprietary nature,
hardware firewalls need specialized knowledge to install, configure, and administer efficiently.
Lastly, the financial costs of hardware based solutions are fairly high because of initial acquisition
in addition to the previously mentioned specific administrative resources necessary to function
them.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
14. ........................ firewalls are precisely what the name entails; a hardware device that is
positioned anywhere in the traffic flow of an organization’s network.

15. ........................ is one of the key considerations when choosing a firewall solution.
9.8 Summary

 A firewall is a dedicated appliance, or software running on another computer, which
inspects network traffic passing through it, and denies or permits passage based on a set of
rules.
 Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private
networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets.
 A firewall is simply a program or hardware device that filters the information coming
through the Internet connection into your private network or computer system.

 In computer networking, Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a firewall configuration for
protecting local area networks (LANs).
 Firewall proxy servers function at the application layer of the firewall, where both ends of
an association are forced to carry out the session through the proxy.
 A screening router is a fundamental part of most firewalls. A screening router can be a
commercial router or a host-based router with some sort of packet filtering potential.
 An application gateway is an application program that runs on a firewall system between
two networks. It is also known as application proxy or application-level firewalls.

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