What is the firewall?
A firewall is a network security tool that keeps track of and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic in accordance with previously specified security policies for an organization. A firewall, at its most basic level, is essentially the wall that separates a private internal network from the public Internet.
For more than 25 years, firewalls have served as the first line of defense in network security. They create a barrier separating trustworthy internal secured and controlled networks from shady external networks like the Internet.
Types of Firewalls in Computer Networks
A firewall serves as a wall between private networks and the outside world, adding a crucial layer of protection. Over the past forty years, firewall architectures have undergone a significant evolution, moving from first-generation stateless firewalls to next-generation firewalls. Today, businesses have a variety of firewall options to select from, including application-level gateways (also known as proxy firewalls), stateful inspection firewalls, and circuit-level gateways. They can even combine various types of firewalls for a deep-layer, all-encompassing security solution.
➧➤Proxy Firewall
A proxy firewall, a primitive form of firewall device, acts as the gateway between one network to another for a particular application. By blocking direct connections from outside the network, proxy servers can add security and other features like content caching. However, this might also have an effect on the applications that can be supported by throughput capacities.
➧➤ Cloud Native Firewall
The way that applications and workload infrastructure are secured at scale is being modernized by cloud-native firewalls.
The benefits of cloud-native fire barriers
- Securely flexible and agile
- Possibility of many tenants
- effective load balancing
Cloud native firewalls with automated scaling features allow networking operations and security operations teams to operate quickly.
➧➤ Virtual Firewall
A virtual firewall is typically installed as a virtual appliance in a private cloud (VMware ESXi, KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V) or public cloud (Amazon Web Services or AWS, Google Cloud Platform or GCP, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or OCI) to monitor and secure traffic across physical and virtual networks. One of the most important elements of software-defined networks is frequently a virtual firewall (SDN).
➧➤ Stateful Inspection Firewall
Stateful inspection, often referred to as dynamic packet filtering, is a firewall technology that keeps track of the status of active connections and makes decisions about which network packets to let pass through the firewall based on this data.
➧➤ Firewalls Packet Filtering
The packet filtering firewall filters IP packets based on source and destination IP address, and source and destination port. The packet filter may lack logging facilities, which would make it impractical for an organization that has compliance and reporting requirements to which they must adhere.
➧➤ Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
What is a next-generation firewall (NGFW)? A next-generation firewall is within the third generation of firewall technology, designed to address advanced security threats at the application level through intelligent, context-aware security features.
Firewall History
Since the late 1980s, firewalls have been around. Initially known as packet filters, they were networks set up to inspect packets, or bytes, sent between computers. Despite the fact that packet filtering firewalls are still in use today, firewalls have advanced significantly over the years as technology has advanced.
