DAYSTAR UNIVERSITY

An assignment

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT TO THE COURSE ACS 431

Presented by:

Gladys Mumbua (10-1809)

Submitted to

MR FREDRICK OGOR

FIREWALLS
A firewall is a device that serves as a barrier between networks providing access control, traffic filtering and other security features. Firewalls are commonly deployed between trusted and untrusted networks, for example between the Internet (untrusted) and an organization’s trusted private various network. They [firewalls] can also be used internally to segment an organization’s network infrastructure, for example; deploying a firewall between the traffic was received to determining whether the corporate financial information and the rest of the company network. A firewall can either be software-based or hardware-based and is used to help keep a network secure. Its primary objective is to control the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining whether it should be allowed through or not, based on a predetermined rule set. A network's firewall builds a bridge between an internal network that is assumed to be secure and trusted, and another network, usually an external (inter)network, such as the Internet, that is not assumed to be secure and trusted.
Hardware based firewalls:
Hardware firewalls are exactly what the name implies; hardware device that is placed somewhere in the traffic flow of an organization’s network. Once in place, the device receives and analyzes packets traveling into and out of the network. The device then checks a list of previously specified access rules to see if it should allow the packet to continue to its destination, or if the packet should be discarded.
A hardware based firewall is a standalone product such as a broadband router. It allows connected computers to transfer data between each other and access the internet. The hardware firewall or router uses packet filtering as the method to transfer data. It compares the header of the packets and determines the destination and source addresses. It then compares the addresses to rules and based on these rules the packets are either transferred or dropped.
Another method of transferring data is SPI, stateful packet inspection. This is where the router determines the origin of the packet and transfers or drops it based on the computer behind the routers request. There is a slight downfall with the router, when information is transferred form connected computers, i.e. two computers connected to the router, the router does not check the contents of the data. It assumes that the data being transferred is safe and completes the transfer. Therefore if a connected computer already has a virus or Trojan it will pass on the virus or Trojan to the other connected computers.

The main advantage of a hardware firewall is that it protects all connected computers from harmful material from the internet. It is effective and easy to use. To use a router just plug in your computer(s) to the router using proper cables, the firewall is ready in use with none, or very minimal configuration required.

Software based firewalls:
Software based firewalls are installed on an existing device, such as a workstation or server. These applications perform the same tasks as hardware based solutions, namely analyzing network packets to determine whether or not they should be allowed to continue to their intended destination. They work by monitoring all open ports on a computer and checking all the information that is received on them. Each monitored port is specifically dedication to each program that has access to the internet, so the software firewall, is configured to contain a list of applications available to access the internet on certain ports. Therefore, if the allowed application is using a specified port, the software firewall will check the contents coming in on that port and pass it through to the computer if acceptable. If an application attempting to access information that is not allowed/configured to from the internet, the firewall will block all incoming/outgoing information and notify the user that that program is trying to access the internet, thus allowing the user to determine if the application is safe to have access to the internet.
A software firewall can protect a computer and notify the user of any activities trying to access the personal computer from anywhere outside the computer. The software firewall gives a lot of control over the information passing through the computer and can be a very effective way for an advanced user to protect its computer from the outside. If the software firewall is configured properly it can be very effective, but it can also be difficult to configure. For local area networks, software firewalls must be installed on each machine on the network and configured separately.
Software based firewall has a number of disadvantages. One of them is that it can be very cumbersome and difficult to maintain a software firewall on a network depending on the size of the network and the amount of configuration needed. Also, since they are installed on an existing operating system, they are susceptible to the same viruses and malicious attacks as their host machine, thereby increasing the likelihood that the firewall can be disabled or otherwise rendered useless in the event of an attack. On the other hand, it also has a number of advantages. Advantages of software firewalls: * Cheaper * Ideal for personal or home use * Easy to configure or reconfigure
A good example of a software based firewall is the Windows XP's security. Another software-based example is Kerio Personal Firewall , which is distributed free for personal use.
Conclusion:
There is no main difference between hardware and software firewalls in the end they both do the same task. They both act as barriers between the internet and the computer and they both help protect them from anything harmful that can harm the computer from the outside connection. The choice between choosing the firewall is purely preference, but there should be some thought when choosing. The best and most minimum that one should do to protect a computer is to have a hardware firewall in place. The ease of setting up and the range of protection for various numbers of computers is an obvious choice. To improve the protection, adding a software firewall can pretty much eliminate most if not all incoming or outgoing harmful materials from the internet. Although more configurations are required with a software firewall, there is more flexibility and control for the user. In the ideal situation the best would be to have both hardware and software firewalls they both will give the good protection from the internet.