Advantages and Disadvantages of Firewall | Types, Benefits, Importance and Drawbacks, Pros and Cons

5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Firewall: Using a computer is a very important and common thing to do in the present generation. Without the internet, many of the tasks are impossible which also include various online payments, gaming and professional work. But security is the major problem while using the internet as virus attacks are very common without any security. Thus to protect our computers from viruses or any attack we need a gateway between computers and the internet. A firewall is designed to give security to the device and checks the unwanted or unrecognized sources. Hence it is very useful for any user who wants to do any task on a computer without any fear.

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What is Firewall? Types of Firewall |Advantages and Disadvantages of Firewall 2022

A firewall is a network security device that protects the computer from unwanted or unrecognised sources which are based on predefined rules. It keeps a check on both outgoing and incoming traffic and only allows passing through ports. It controls cyber security by making a barrier between the secured network and unwanted or malicious sources which can infect the device. A firewall can be software or hardware or both. It works in such a manner that a set of rules that are predefined are applied to the system so that the malicious sources are filtered and the device can be saved from these unwanted sources that damage the computer.

• Advantages of Firewall
• Disadvantages of Firewall
• Comparison Table between Advantages and Disadvantages of Firewall
• FAQs on Pros and Cons of Firewall

Types of Firewall

Firewalls are either software or hardware or both. The software firewall is running in any computer with windows or other operating system and the hardware firewall are the internet routers. Below are different firewalls that are generally used according to the need of the people or organisation.

• Packet Filter Firewalls: These firewalls are used to filter internet traffic and block unwanted traffic IP according to the defined rules of matching protocols, IP address, etc. This is the most basic firewall type which gives a fast solution.
• Circuit Level Firewalls: circuit-level firewall works at session-level works on session-level by verifying TCP(Transmission control protocol). In this, the actual data is not checked by the predefined rules in every session but if any source is following the correct TCP by the predefined rules then it is allowed without checking the data. Thus sometimes this firewall is not safe.
• Next-generation firewalls: These firewalls are having additional features that deep packet inspection, TCP testing, etc. These are designed in such a way that they can protect a wider range from threats.
• Stateful Inspection Firewalls: These firewalls work on packets and are a combination of packet filter firewalls and TCP. it stores information such as IP address, port, etc in a database which helps secure traffic.
• Cloud firewall: A cloud firewall or FaaS (firewall as service) run by a third-party vendor. They handle all the tasks such as administrative tasks, deployment patching, etc. its best benefit is scalability and it can handle the additional traffic load.
• Proxy firewall: A proxy firewall is a medium between the two ends. In this, if any client requests then it can check all the possibilities of the security and identify the problem and restrict the user to open unwanted or malicious sources.

Advantages of Firewall

A firewall is designed to give security to the device and check the unwanted or unrecognized sources. Hence it is very useful for any user who wants to do any task on a computer without any fear. Below are some important advantages of a firewall

• Protect against viruses: It is a security device that protects a computer by creating a shield between the computer and unwanted sources. Before any virus can damage a computer firewall protect it and block all the trojans by its predefined rules.
• Monitors traffic: Firewalls keep a check on all the sources and traffic that can affect the computer as they can be malicious or unwanted sources and block them.
• Control hacker activity: Hackers are always in the mode of doing harmful activities on the system or on the internet. A firewall gives security to this kind of people who want to misuse or want to access different sources.
• Protect Privacy: Firewall gives protection to secure personal details without it can be hacked. It blocks all unwanted sites and gives privacy.

Disadvantages of Firewall

Firewalls are used very widely but they also it has some drawbacks. Some of the disadvantages of a firewall are as follows

• High cost: Hardware firewalls are more costly than software firewalls and also maintenance of hardware firewalls is also high. Thus software firewalls are less costly and can be used if for personal use.
• Malware attacks are possible: The firewall itself is not sufficient to protect from malware attacks thus sometimes anti-virus protector must also be installed on any computer along with the firewall.
• Effects Performance: Firewall can affect the performance of RAM resources and processing power if it even running in the background. So overall the system performance slows down but the hardware firewall is a little less effective in decreasing the performance.
• Maintenance: Many large organisations have to hire IT departments and experts to maintain the firewall as it is not manageable by anyone else.

Comparison Table between Advantages and Disadvantages of Firewall

FAQs on Pros and Cons of Firewall

Question 1.
What is a Firewall? What are its advantages?

Answer:
A firewall is a network security device that protects the computer from unwanted or unrecognized sources which are based on predefined rules. Thus to protect our computers from viruses or any attack we need a gateway between computers and the internet. A firewall can be software or hardware or both.

Here are some advantages of a firewall which are as follows

• Protect against viruses: It is a security device that protects a computer by creating a shield between the computer and unwanted sources. Before any virus can damage a computer firewall protect it and block all the trojans by its predefined rules.
• Monitors traffic: Firewalls keep a check on all the sources and traffic that can affect the computer as they can be malicious or unwanted sources and block them.
• Control hacker activity: Hackers are always in the mode of doing harmful activities on the system or on the internet. A firewall gives security to this kind of people who want to misuse or want to access different sources.
• Protect Privacy: Firewall gives protection to secure personal details without it can be hacked. It blocks all unwanted sites and gives privacy.

Question 2.
What are the different types of Firewalls?

Answer:
The different firewalls are generally used according to the need of the people or organization.

• Packet filter firewalls
• Circuit level firewalls
• Next-generation firewalls
• Stateful inspection firewalls
• Cloud firewalls
• Proxy firewalls

Question 3.
What are the disadvantages of firewalls?

Answer:
Firewalls are used very widely but they also have some drawbacks. Some of the disadvantages of a firewall are as follows

• High cost: Hardware firewalls are more costly than software firewalls and also maintenance of hardware firewalls is also high.
• Malware attacks are possible: The firewall itself is not sufficient to protect from malware attacks, thus sometimes anti-virus protectors must also be installed on any computer along with the firewall.
• Effects Performance: Firewall can affect the performance of RAM resources and processing power if it even running in the background.
• Maintenance: Many large organisations have to hire IT departments and experts to maintain the firewall as it is not manageable by anyone else.