Firewalls

by Kisha Geijer

You may have heard the term "firewall" before, but you may not know what it means or whether or not you need one. Thankfully, I can clear the matter up for you pretty quickly--a firewall is a means of protecting your computer from unwanted access by others, and yes, you need one. If you're connected to the internet, it's possible that other people can also access your computer. Hoping that most people don't know how to do this or depending upon a hacker not finding you are pretty inefficient ways of protecting yourself.

You may not have all that many mission-critical documents to worry about on your home PC, but don't be tempted to think it doesn't matter. Chances are that plenty of confidential information crosses your screen every day--when you buy books at Amazon, when you check your bank statements and credit card bills online, when you enter your various passwords at various sites. You need something to stand between you and the big bad internet.

There are two basic types of firewalls available--hardware and software. Hardware firewalls are physical pieces of equipment. Routers are considered hardware firewalls, and can be found in many homes. A router is networking equipment that allows you to connect multiple computers and share an internet connection. A hardware firewall is relatively inexpensive and provides a good degree of protection and convenience, and it's simple to install and use. A weakness, however, is that a hardware firewall typically does not care much about the outgoing traffic on your network--the things that you send out. It assumes that's generated by you, but malicious scripts could also be using your network for nefarious purposes, and you wouldn't be able to tell.

A software firewall is an application that serves a similar function. You must purchase, install and configure a software firewall for each computer that you have connected. This can become cumbersome and expensive if there are multiple systems in your household. However, a software firewall will supplement the protection afforded by a hardware firewall (it will analyze traffic going out of your network as well), or it can replace one entirely. They're not without their share of weakness, though. The program will run at all times, which will use your computer's resources, and it is somewhat more intrusive than a hardware firewall. It requires more maintenance and more input from the user, which could lead to mistakes, or cause the user to allow everything out of irritation with all the questions, which would quite defeat the purpose.

The best solution would be to have a combination of both hardware and software firewalls, but it might not be possible. Each situation is different, so you'll have to decide for yourself which you prefer and which would suit your computing needs. For instance, someone who travels a lot would be better off with a software firewall, as it would be much less convenient to lug another piece of hardware around. However, if you have multiple computers on your network and you don't want to buy licenses for all of them, a hardware firewall would definitely be the way to go. Your needs may be different, but if you're online, especially if you have an always-on broadband connection, you need to protect yourself. A firewall is your first line of defense.