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Firewalls are network security tools that create a barrier between internal applications and data from malicious traffic. They act like a security guard, monitoring everything that goes in and out of your device, denying anything that doesn’t look right. They do this with a few different methods, including packet filtering, a proxy service and stateful inspection.

Firewall technology has evolved over time, from physical hardware appliances that plugged into a corporate network to today’s software-based solutions that run in the cloud. In addition, newer capabilities such as NGFWs add advanced protections like inspecting encrypted traffic, supporting Zero Trust approaches, and detecting emerging threats.

A firewall’s ability to protect networks depends on its visibility, which allows it to closely monitor everything attempting to enter or leave the network. The hardware or software that runs a firewall has a set of predefined rules, which it applies to incoming and outgoing data packets.

When a firewall examines a packet of information, it looks at the source address, destination address, active ports and transfer protocols to determine its safety. If the data matches a rule, it is admitted to the network. If it doesn’t, the firewall can reject or drop the packet.

The ability to apply policies based on individual user identity rather than IP addresses is also a critical feature in many modern firewall systems. This is accomplished by integrating a firewall with directory services such as Active Directory, LDAP, RADIUS or TACACS+. This enables a firewall to create a policy that can match an inbound or outbound data packet to the user’s identity instead of just their IP address.