Introduction to Firewalls
A firewall is a security mechanism to protect a local network from the threats that the network might face while interacting with other networks. A firewall can be a hardware component, a software component, or a combination of both. It prevents the computers within one network domain from communicating directly with the computers in another network domain.
Functions of a Firewall
The main purpose of a firewall is to protect the computers of an organization from unauthorized access. It allows the authorized users of the local network full access to the Internet. The basic functions that are performed by firewalls are:
Security Auditing User authentication Network Address Translation (NAT) IP masquerading
Auditing
Firewalls can be used to log the network traffic passing through it. This function is useful to track and filter unwanted information from entering the network.
Implementation of IP Masquerading
The filtering mechanism allows information to be passed to the Internet from a local network without requiring any authentication. It makes sure that the downloading of information from the Internet to a local network happens based only on a request made by an authorized user.
Firewall Terminology
Before using a firewall, the user should know some of the following basic terms associated with a firewall:
Gateway
Proxy servers Screening routers Application-level gateway Demilitarized zone Bastion host
Proxy servers
A proxy server masks the networks IP address with the proxy servers IP address
Application-level gateway
This type of gateway uses a more complex policy than a packet filtering technique that involves selectively restricting the data that is allowed through the firewall.
Firewall Architecture
Firewall architecture deals with the design of the firewall system and its components and is implemented in a network. The following are the different types of firewall architectures:
Dial-up architecture Single router architecture Firewall with proxy server
Dial-up Architecture
Types of Firewalls
The type of firewall used might vary from network to network. The following are the various types of firewalls generally used:
Packet filter firewall Circuit-level firewall Proxy firewall Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall
Firewall Solutions
An organization can use a software firewall or a hardware firewall or a mixture of both for network security. The firewalls solutions are:
Software firewall Hardware firewall