What Is a Firewall?
Firewall acts as a barrier between an agency’s computer systems and the outside world. Whether it’s blocking incoming threats, filtering online transactions, communications or data transfers, or restricting access to certain network areas, firewalls protect agencies from cyber attacks and mitigate the risk of compromised networks and systems.
Generally, firewalls are able to block incoming threats like malware (ransomware, viruses, worms, spyware, adware, etc.), phishing, and other malicious activities such as spoofing, spamming, impersonating users to obtain passwords or confidential information, or infecting user’s computers with Trojans to spread throughout the network. Malware usually enters your system through an email, and once inside the agency network, can be transferred between computers by clicking on a link or attachment to deliver the malicious code to individual systems.
The original firewall structure is known as a packet filter, which creates a checkpoint at a traffic router or switch and performs a simple check of the information contained in each packet of data before it is forwarded. This is done by comparing the information of each packet to a set of rules that have been preconfigured on the firewall.
These types of firewalls tend to have a low impact on system performance and are relatively easy for dedicated attackers to evade. They also cannot read application protocol data which gives them a limited quality of protection. Hence, they should be used in conjunction with more sophisticated firewall architectures. NGFWs have been created to address these limitations by adding advanced application awareness and an integrated IPS to the firewall capabilities.