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Firewall is a network security device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and permits or denies data packets based on established rules. This enables businesses to protect sensitive data from malicious actors and keep private information secure from cyberattacks.

Firewals can be implemented in a variety of ways, ranging from software that’s installed on individual computers to advanced next-generation firewall (NGFW) solutions with integrated network security functions. Choosing the right solution involves a careful assessment of security requirements, budget, and performance needs.

The first generation of firewalls began with the packet filtering approach, which examines individual data packets to determine if they meet set criteria to be allowed or denied access. The problem with this is that it’s easy for hackers to get around this by introducing additional malicious code into the data packets. A second-generation type, known as stateful firewalls, emerged in the early 2000s. These are much more sophisticated, because they track the state of active connections. Essentially, they remember information about each packet of data to make more informed decisions than the previous one.

A more basic option is circuit-level gateways, which are designed to quickly approve or deny traffic by verifying the transmission control protocol (TCP) handshake. While they are quick and resource-efficient, they have serious limitations. This is because they don’t check the actual content of each packet, which could contain malware that would be detected by more thorough checks. NGFWs, which combine statefulness with deep packet inspection functionality, are the most comprehensive.