Campbellsville University Types of Firewalls and Data Protection Discussion

Discussion 1:

Basically, a firewall is a device that is used to enforce security policies within networks, applications or databases and carefully check the data traffic going in and out and decide what can pass and what cannot pass. There are different types of firewall and every firewall works in its own way of protecting data from corporate networks or cloud or data centers.

Types of firewalls:

· Packet Filter: there are already set of rules and some access control lists defined by a security administrator. This rule will examine the packet and accepts or rejects depending on the security rules met. Also, packet filter firewalls will take various parameters like IP address, Port numbers, protocol headers and other parameters before establishing a connection. These are located everywhere in all the devices like routers, switches, printers, scanners, telephone devices etc.

· Application level firewalls: these are more secure and advanced firewalls which will analyze the packet deeper and decides whether to accept or reject the packet. Other names for the application level firewalls are also called as application gateways or proxy firewalls. Application level firewalls uses proxy servers or different software to manage traffic through FTP. There are different protocols for different proxy and they also check data validation, logging and control access to the network.

· Circuit-level firewalls: These firewalls are quick and fast to approve or reject any traffic without taking much time and usually verify the traffic by Transmission control protocol (TCP) to validate if the packet is from legitimate. The disadvantage of this circuit-level firewalls are they don’t check the packet if a malware exists and for this concern these are not a good option for protecting the organizations.

·State Inspection firewalls: These firewalls are formed by packet filter and circuit level because they use both packet filter technology and transmission control protocol (TCP) handshake to establish more secure connection. This puts an additional secure and checks if the packet is legitimate or not but takes more computing resources than other firewalls.

·Next Generation Firewalls: These firewalls combine the validation of packets by data inside the packets, TCP checks and surface level data checks. This uses intrusion prevention systems (IPS) that protects the organization networks against different attacks. The definition of next generation firewalls changes as their capabilities can be changed as per the customization.

·Software level firewalls: Usually these firewalls are usually software that are installed on your devices. It adds more protection against threats which mainly isolates your individual network. Managing the software level firewalls are a bit challenging as it needs to be on every device and there are multiple updates that need to be made as well.

References:

1. Blair, R. (2009, May 21). Chapter 1: Types of Firewalls. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://www.networkworld.com/article/2255950/chapt…

2. Rubens, P. (2018, March 21). Types of Firewalls: What IT Security Pros Need to Know. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://www.esecurityplanet.com/network-security/f…

Discussion 2:

For protecting Important data, Companies use various methods to secure their wired or wireless networks. Using a Firewall is one of the secured systems through which any authorized access from the third party to retrieve the data can be prevented. Some of the methodologies consist of the use of Firewall Hardware. They are the external devices between the computer and the internet. They also come in the form of routers with inbuild firewall features. This hardware which has inbuilt firewall features help in securing more than one computer in the system. Firewall defend the system from external threats.

Through protocol, inspection firewall can secure both wired and wireless networks. This stops any unauthorized participants to gain access. Because of build-in abilities applications that help to identify and stops unwanted traffic and attacks using policies and connection information. This not only identifies but also stops any unauthorized access to a network system. Firewall secures the networks by filtering the applications doing the deep inspection to control any applications that need access the network system. A firewall also controls HTTP in the network system. It gets inspected whether it should be allowed or blocked in the network system. A firewall also protects wired and wireless network systems by protecting them against viruses, worms and hackers. By controlling the applications in the network, it configures systems and makes sure they are free from viruses and worms.

There are different types of firewalls –

•Proxy Firewall – Proxy Servers provide extra functionality by hiding IP addresses and limit the traffic.

•Stateful Inspection – it’s also called dynamic packet filtering. It allows a packet to cross or block depending upon the IP addresses which allowed to enter.

•Packet Filters – Outgoing and incoming packets are being controlled and analyzed. It only let packet to cross if they fall under pre recognized criteria’s such as packet type, port number and IP addresses.

Also, the use of firewall software is also one of the ways to protect wired and wireless networks which prevent malicious hacking attempts, hackers and denial of service attacks. Unauthorized access is not permitted in the network systems. Firewall software fortifies information and data leakages. Firewall software hides the identity of a network system to stop an attacker to access the system.

References –

What Is a Firewall? (2020, March 30). Retrieved from https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/firewalls/what-is-a-firewall.html

CSDL: IEEE Computer Society. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings-article/…