Privacy, Security & Virus Information

What is a firewall?

A firewall is an electronic defense around your computer that stops intruders accessing your personal information and data stored on your hard drive.

Think of a firewall as a fence around your house with a couple of gates. The fence stops people you don’t want to see coming in and gives you privacy while you are on your property.
People you do want to see can come and knock on the door and you can screen them as visitors you want to let in to your home or not.

Firewalls work exactly the same way.

Electronic visitors come up to your firewall from the internet. You can set the software to let in those you trust and to keep out those you don’t.

Firewalls come in to two types:

Hardware firewalls

Most modern routers come with a hardware firewall as part of the package. They are fast and efficient and can look after your whole home network.
Security settings are changed via the router administration pages in your browser.
Remember hardware firewalls only look at incoming traffic, so won’t tell you if an intruder has breached your system from the inside with a worm and is remotely sending messages from your computer.

Software firewalls

Software firewalls should protect the any computers directly connected to the internet.
They are loaded on to the computer and configured locally. They work by comparing incoming and outgoing data against rules set by the user. If the data meets the criteria set by the rules, the system allows the computer to send or receive it, if not, the firewall blocks the data.
Like all other software, firewalls can come with security vulnerabilities, so make sure you keep your firewall up to date with the latest download from the manufacturer.

If your internet service provider (ISP) offers a firewall as part of a broadband package, then it may be sensible to opt for that as your ISP will probably offer technical support for the product.

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