Firewall Definition

It is a network security software or device that restricts internet traffic from, into, or within the private network. This dedicated hardware or software unit operates by blocking particular or allowing certain data pockets. The main objective of this device or software is to stop malicious operations and to check unauthorized access, and it permits authorized traffic to pass through it. Firewalls can be installed using hardware appliances, software applications, or both. Firewalls play a crucial role in the prevention of future cyberattacks and in securing networks.

A firewall forms a "choke point" to conduit web traffic at which they check set coded parameters and execute on that basis. Some firewalls also trace connections and traffic in audit logs to check what has been allowed or restricted. These network security firewalls are designed for web traffic management with the prime objective of the reduce the expansion of web threats.

How Does a Firewall Function?

• Traffic Scan: The Firewall scans the traffic network at the application or packet levels. Packet-level inspection consists of scanning individual packets' header information, including source, port numbers, protocol types, and destination Ip. Set programmed parameters are encoded to allow which networks to enter or block. The application-level inspection involves scrutinizing the contents of the packets that involve data payload at the application layer of the OSI model. It enables filtering traffic depending upon the particular application or the protocol, for example, email or web browsing.
• Set Programmed-Based Filtering: Firewall uses a set of program rules that a network user designs to determine whether the traffic is resisted or allowed. These rules can be formed based on several parameters, for example, source, destination IP, port numbers, particular keywords or patterns, and protocol types.
• Careful Examination: Some firewalls carry out a stateful inspection that includes storing the track of the state of the network connections. This enables them to distinguish between authorized traffic that is part of the established framework and future malicious traffic trying to connect with a new link. Suppose a packet is part of an already established network connection and will be allowed to pass. A packet initiating a new network from the external network will be restricted.
• Logging and Flagging: Firewalls make logs that store information and network traffic. The information includes timestamps, blocked connections, source and destination, IP addresses, and port numbers. This logged information can be used for monitoring, auditing, and troubleshooting. Firewalls will flag reports based on set programmed codes to trigger, allowing users to recognize and resolve potential challenges actively.
• Network Segmentation: Firewalls can also be utilized to form network segments or zones with varied levels of security or trust. Suppose a company may install separate network segments for guest users, internal users, or servers, each with varied access permission levels.

Benefits of Firewalls

Firewalls are a crucial component of modern-day cyber security problems. Firewall offers modern-day cybersecurity strategies and numerous programs to protect your system and network from illegitimate access, breach of data, and other cyber challenges. Some of the important benefits of firewalls include the following:

• Security of the Network: It acts as a wall between an authorized internal network and an unauthorized external network such as the Internet. Firewalls are known for preventing unauthorized access and malicious activity from the internal networks that ensure only authorized and legitimate traffic flows through the network.
• Controlled and Monitored Access: The Firewall enables institutions to enforce and define access control guidelines and determines which network should be allowed or blocked. Thus, it enables administering the flow of data in and out of servers, ensuring that only authorized and legitimate traffic is permitted.
• Threat Prevention: Firewalls are known for their sophisticated security features that include an Intrusion prevention system (IPS) and Intrusion Detection System that can restrict and detect familiar and unfamiliar threats, for example, viruses, malware, and other malicious ware that could enter into your networks.
• Privacy Protected: Firewalls are popular for protecting the privacy of sensitive data by screening outbound network traffic and preventing unauthorized data movement. It ensures that organizations comply strictly with data privacy regulations and prevent leakage.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Enforcement of elaborate cybersecurity plans can be cost-effective compared to financial and reputational losses from cyber-attacks and data breaches.
• Scale and Flexibility: Firewalls can be installed into various designs to suit an organization's particular needs, from small businesses to big firms. They can be installed into software or hardware appliances, cloud-based services, and virtual appliances and offers scales and flexibility to adjust to changing network environments.
• Filtration: The fundamental role of the Firewall is to monitor and filter the particular types of network traffic depending upon the application layer, preventing unauthorized access to a particular service or application. Therefore, it offers an extra layer of security to the institution by enabling them to administer the use of applications and services within its network.

Top 10 Firewall Companies

Some of the top firewall companies present are:

• Sophos Firewall
• FortiNet
• WatchGuard Network Security
• Pfsense
• Sonic Wall
• Zscaler Internet Access.
• Huawei Firewall.

1. Sophos Firewall

It is British-based security software and hardware company. It was established in 1985 by the founder's Peter Lammer and Jan Hruska. It has specialization in developing products such as unified threat management, communication endpoint, network security, mobile security, email security, and encryption.

2. Check Point Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW)

Next-level sophisticated network security appliances offer elaborate protection against several cyber threats, such as advanced persistent threats (APT), ransomware, malware, and other virus attacks. It is a high-profile cybersecurity company that provides high-quality and diverse security solutions, and NGFWS is a key element of its security portfolio.

Check Point Next Generation Firewalls are configured to multiple layers of security to guard the network and data from possible cyberattacks.

3. FortiNet

It is a well-known and most-used network solution that offers protection against several cyber attacks assisting institutions to guard their data and servers against potential cyberattacks and security lapses. A cybersecurity company called Fortinet has developed the system. They are constructed in such a way as to provide elaborate network security, such as anti-virus, web filtering, a virtual private network (VPN), an intrusion prevention system (IPS), and other security mechanisms.

Institutions and organizations of varied sizes, from small firms to big business houses, use this application to guard their networks against cyberattacks, such as malware, viruses, hackers, and other malicious activities.

• Company Name: Fortinet
• Headquarters: California, United States
• CEO: Ken Xie
• Revenue Operation; 442 Crores
• Number of Employees: 12595

FortiGate appliances offer impeccable performance and scalability, the ability to administer voluminous traffic with low latency. It also offers centralized management and reporting enabling network users to manage, design and monitor multiple FortiGate devices from a single console.

4. Watch Guard Network Security

It is a cybersecurity company offering diverse network security solutions such as cloud-based security, firewalls, etc. Watch-Guard is a crucial component of network security solutions and offers elaborate security features such as web filtering, anti-virus, intrusion prevention, VPN, Firewall, etc. It is constructed to eliminate cyber threats such as hackers, malware, malicious activities, and viruses. It also provides secure Wi-Fi access points framed to give secure and reliable wireless connectivity while maintaining robust security standards. These access points include rogue access point detection, wireless intrusion prevention, and application-level control to protect against wireless threats.

WatchGuard is used in diverse sectors such as retail, finance, healthcare, education, etc. This appliance also suits small firms to large firms. Their application is immensely popular for enhancing reporting capabilities, centralized administration, ease of use, and enabling network users to vigil and control the security infrastructure grid from the single console.

WatchGuard Technologies, Inc has developed this security solution.

• Organization Name: Watch Guard Technologies Inc
• Founder: Christopher G. Slatt
• Foundation Years: 1996; 27 years ago
• Chief Executive Officer: Prakash Panjwani
• Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States
• Subsidiaries Company: Panda Security, Percipient Networks, Datablink Inc.
• Number of employees: 500+
• Products of this institution: Unified Threat Management (UTM) devices, next-generation firewalls, secure Wi-Fi devices, cloud-based threat intelligence, device detection
• Website: watchguard.com

5. Pf sense

pfSense is an open-source network security software. It is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system. It is programmed to operate like a firewall, UTM (Unified Threat Management) platform, and router.

The features provided pfSense include stateful packet filtering, an intrusion detection and prevention system, a virtual private network (VPN), web filtering, load balancing, traffic shaping, and more.

It is known for flexibility and extensibility and enables administrators to customize and configure their security grid depending on specific requests. The web-based Graphical user interface gives an easy-to-easy interface for administering and configuring several security schemes.

It also endorses a large number of add-on packages that can be instituted to boost its functionality; for example,

• Snort for IDS/IPS, Squid for web proxy and caching,
• Suricata for IDS/IPS,
• OpenVPN for VPN connectivity and many others.

Due to this pfSense becomes a customizable and versatile network security solution that can be molded to meet the unique requirements of diverse conditions.

One of the recognized features of the pfSense is strong community support. Since it is open source, it received feedback from a large and active community of developers and network administrators who assist in developing and continuously improving its features and performance.

Additional features include advanced logging and reporting features, enabling network users to monitor and analyze network traffic, trace security events, and produce reports for compliance and auditing purposes.

• Developer: Rubicon Communications, LLC
• Platforms: 32-bit (discontinued in 2.4.x); 64-bit Intel / AMD
• License: Apache License 2.0[3] applies to pfSense CE
• Latest Preview: 2.7.0-DEVELOPMENT
• Official Website: pfsense.org
• Released to Manufacturing: Oct 2006

6. Sonic Wall

It is an American Cybersecurity firm that offers several internal products primarily related to network security and content control. SonicWall provides firewall appliances, endpoint security, secure remote access solutions, wireless security, email security, and more. It also protects the networks from outside attacks such as viruses, ransomware, malware, and other cyberattacks.

• Parent Organizations: Francisco Partners, Elliott Investment Management
• Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
• Owners: Francisco Partners, Elliott Investment Management
• Number of Employees: 1,600
• Subsidiaries: Aventail, SonicWALL Mexico, SonicWALL Australia, etc
• CEO: Robert VanKirk
• Products of the Sonic Wall: Next-generation firewall; UTM (Unified Threat Management); firewalls; virtual Firewall; VPN; wireless security; SD-WAN; zero-trust security; security appliance filtering spam, spyware, viruses, and other malware
• Industry: Network security, security appliances, Internet security, WAN optimization
• Owner: Francisco Partners and Elliott Management
• The number of employees: 1600 (April 2020)

7. Zscaler Internet Access

It is a cloud service company based in the United States. It offers secure and policy-based access to the Internet. Some of the essential features of the software include:

• It enables institutions to frame minute policies for access to cloud applications, for example, MS Office 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce
• It allows organizations to implement content filtering policies to restrict or allow a particular type of content based on some types, such as gaming, adult content, and much more.
• Zscaler Internet Access provides elaborate reporting and analytics capabilities that offer crucial insights into security events, internet usage, user behavior, and web traffic.

Zscaler Internet Access uses several authentication methods such as multifactor authentication (MFA), single-sign-on, Integration, and identity providers such as active directory and other SAML-based IDPS. It makes sure that only authorized users have access to the Internet

• Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
• Revenue: 109 crores USD (2022)
• Subsidiaries: Cloudneeti Corporation, MORE
• Founders: Jay Chaudhry, Kailash Kailash
• President: Jay Chaudhry
• CEO: Jay Chaudhry (Sept 2007-)

8. Huwaei Firewall

It is a multinational technology company based in China. It manufactures, designs, and sells smart devices, consumer electronics, telecommunication equipment, and other solar rooftop products.

• Founded: 15 September 1987, Shenzhen, China
• Parent Organization: Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.
• Subsidiaries: HiSilicon, Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd, Huawei Symantec, Huawei Device (Hong Kong) Co., Limited, Huawei Technologies USA, Inc. more
• Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
• Industry: Consumer electronics, Telecom equipment, Networking equipment, Semiconductors, Artificial intelligence, Automation Cloud computing, Internet of things
• Area Served: Global
• Parent: Huawei Investment & Holding
• Huawei Products: Mobile and fixed broadband networks, Consultancy and managed services, Multimedia technology, Smartphones, Tablet, computers, Dongles Smart TV, Harmony OSEMUI Euler OS.
• Number of Employees: 207,000
• Website: www.huawei.com

Huawei offers various services and products, including cybersecurity solutions and networking. The firewall products of Huawei contain a virtual private network, advanced threat intelligence, application control, intrusion and detection prevention system, and stateful packet inspection. Huawei products are typically used in cloud environments, data centers, and enterprise networks. They are formed to provide a robust security network to prevent cyber-attacks and protect critical assets.