A firewall is a system that is designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. All communication between your computer and internet flows through the firewall since it lies between your computer network and the Internet.
A firewall can be software or hardware.
Hardware firewalls provide a higher level of security and hence preferred for servers where security has the topmost priority. Hardware firewalls usually come as an inbuilt unit of a router and provide maximum security by filtering the data at packet-level.
The software firewalls are less expensive and hence preferred in home computers and laptops.
Features of Hardware Firewall:-
- Anti Malware
- Antispam
- Web and Application Filter
- Intrusion Prevention System
- Lets you quickly identify and react to network security threats
- Deliver high-performance next-generation firewall
- IPsec & SSL-VPN
- Identity-based policies
- Content filtering
- Load balancing for more than more than two ISP
- User-based authentication
- Anti Phishing attacks
- Antivirus
- Antispyware
- Vulnerability Scans
