Firewalls

A personal firewall is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy.A firewall is something, either a piece of hardware or software that is intended to stop people getting their fingers on your property. Similar to a physical device, a firewall ringfences your computer system and in the process protects you from a variety of destructive threats that could cause you to suffer a loss of information, data, or a security breach that could damage your reputation or finances. It's either a hardware device or a software program that filters your internet connection so that your internal private network is kept separate from the outside world, the Internet.

The firewall thinks about packets of information, and these are dealt with individually, and if they're not safe, then they are not allowed through. Firewalls can protect individuals and their personal pc's when they connect to the web, and they can also protect computers within a large organisation or business. The company will have an internal network and the firewall keeps this safe by providing a barrier through which all information has to pass, and if it's not safe, it's stopped, or blocked.
Hackers will probe networks and personal web connections and will try to make a connection, maybe by FTP or telnet, and try to gain control of the machines by using security holes and breaches. These security breaches or exploits can cause a great deal of trouble and this is why it is important to have a firewall, even if it is rudimentary. Spyware, browser hijackers, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, phishing, and spam can all be defeated by firewalls. Firewalls use packet filtering, a proxy service and stateful inspection to control data traffic in to and out of a network. They allow the filtering of IP addresses, domain names and protocols, and differentiate between telnet, snmp, smtp, icmp, udp, ftp, http, tcp and IP data transmissions.


Firewalls can either be software based, or they can be a piece of physical hardware that acts as a gateway.They can protect you from hackers who try to log on to your computer using remote login software, they help to avoid application backdoors, smtp session hijacking, and this is a great way to stop junk email spamming. Operating system bugs, denial of service attacks, email bombs, macros and viruses are all defeated by effective firewall solutions. They also act as a proxy server or part of a dmz or demilitarized zone. A good firewall keeps personal data in and hackers out. Out of the box it makes your PC invisible on the Internet so that hackers can not find it. The programs intelligent intrusion prevention technology blocks suspicious Internet traffic, and easy-to-use privacy controls prevent personal information from being sent out without your knowledge.