What is a firewall


What is a firewall

Firewall is software or hardware that checks information coming from the Internet or a network, and then either blocks it or allows it to pass through to your computer, depending on your firewall settings.A firewall can help prevent hackers or malicious software from gaining access to your computer through a network or the Internet. A firewall can also help stop your computer from sending malicious software to other computers. 

A firewall isn't the same thing as an antivirus program. To help protect your computer, you need both a firewall and an antivirus and anti-malware program. 

            




 What does a firewall do 

A firewall examines all traffic routed between the two networks to see if it meets certain criteria. If it does, it is routed between the networks, otherwise it is stopped. A firewall filters both inbound and outbound traffic. It can also manage public access to private networked resources such as host applications. It can be used to log all attempts to enter the private network and trigger alarms when hostile or unauthorized entry is attempted. Firewalls can filter packets based on their source and destination addresses and port numbers. This is known as address filtering. Firewalls can also filter specific types of network traffic. This is also known as protocol filtering because the decision to forward or reject traffic is dependant upon the protocol used, for example HTTP, ftp or telnet. Firewalls can also filter traffic by packet attribute or state.


References: google.com






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