The Primary Objective of a Firewall: Protection

Introduction

In the day and age of digital data, there is a constant threat of hacking by cyber criminals. These hackers are constantly seeking new ways to infiltrate your system and access sensitive information like passwords, emails, personal messages, etc. While it’s not always possible to completely prevent these hacks from happening, there are steps you can take today to protect yourself against them! This article will outline some of the most popular methods for protecting your data from being hacked.

Define a firewall and its purpose

A firewall is a program, device or piece of software that protects your computer from hackers and malicious data. Its primary purpose is to protect the integrity of the network by monitoring just about everything that comes in and out of it. Firewalls are used for both home computers as well as business networks, such as schools, hospitals or companies.

Firewalls stand guard against hackers and various other cyber threats. They can protect your computer from a variety of malicious actions, including port scanning, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks or spoofing attempts.

Explain the importance of firewalls in today’s world

Today, the primary objective of a firewall is to protect your data. This can be done by blocking certain websites or applications that you don’t want accessing your network.

The internet has given hackers more opportunities than ever before to access sensitive information and cause harm. Hackers are constantly trying new ways to breach firewalls so it’s important to make sure you’re using the most up-to-date and effective technology.

In today’s digital world, it is important for every business owner or person with a home computer to have firewalls installed in order to protect their data from cyber criminals!

List some common types of firewalls

Some common types of firewalls include a hardware firewall, software firewall or cloud-based security.

Hardware Firewall – This type of firewall is typically installed by the manufacturer and comes built into your computer when you purchase it. Most computers come with either Windows Firewall or Mac OS X Lion preinstalled on them as their operating system (OS) firewall.
Software Firewall – This type of firewall is installed by the user and is usually downloaded from a website or bought in an application store depending on your device’s OS. For example, if you have Windows as your operating system, most likely there will be several different software firewalls that you can install ranging anywhere between free and paid versions.
Cloud-Based Security – This type of firewall is managed by a cloud computing service like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform and offers security features designed to protect your data from being hacked. It encrypts all the information that goes in and out of your network so it can’t be read if stolen by hackers while also sending automatic updates to your devices.

How to install a basic firewall on your computer?

For Windows users, installing a basic firewall is relatively easy and can be done by following these steps:

For Windows users, open the Start menu from your computer’s desktop. Click on “Settings” to open up your settings window. From there click on “Update & Security”. Then select “Windows Defender Firewall.” Once you’re in that section of the page, switch it over to turn it on. Afterward, click on ‘Turn Windows features On or Off’. Scroll down until you find ‘Network Discovery’ then disable this feature as well since enabling network discovery will allow other computers to see yours if they are connected to the same router. This usually isn’t necessary unless you have specific reasons for wanting others devices to access yours so I suggest only using this feature if you know what you’re doing. Afterward, click ok and restart your computer when prompted to do so in order for the changes to take effect on your computer’s firewall settings.
For Mac users, there are two versions of software firewalls that come preinstalled with OS X – one is called “Application Firewall” (located under System Preferences > Security & Privacy) while the other is called “Firewall tab” which can be found by opening up Apple menu then clicking on System Preferences from the drop down list before selecting Networking (under Internet & Wireless). Alternatively, a third type of firewall comes built into macOS called IPFW/Darwin Packet Filter which works at a lower level than all the others and is configured in a different way so I suggest trying this one out if you’re having trouble with the previous two mentioned options.
For Linux users, there aren’t as many options to choose from but most of them are easy to install and work well for beginners such as AppArmor or Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW). UFW offers an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for anyone to configure including those who have never used a firewall before. However, other firewalls like iptables require advanced knowledge about how they function which can be difficult at first for newbies since everything is done through command line interfaces rather than graphical ones.
Lastly, make sure that your anti-virus software has up-to-date virus definitions before starting to install your firewall or it won’t work properly as its job is to prevent viruses from infecting you.

The dangers of not having one installed

Your computer is at risk of being hacked if you don’t have a firewall installed. This may seem like common sense but the reality is that many people either forget or neglect to install one which often puts their devices and personal information in jeopardy because a lot of viruses are transmitted through your internet connection without you knowing about it.

Another problem with not having a firewall is that hackers can potentially take over your device and use it for illegal activities such as hiding their own identity while launching cyber attacks against other computers, stealing data from yours by looking into files that should be private, hijacking your webcam to record videos or pictures of yourself without permission then distributing them online, etc… Basically anything they want since your firewall isn’t there to stop them from getting in.

But the biggest risk of not having a firewall is that your computer can be used as a part of a botnet to distribute malware, spam and launch denial-of-service (DOS) attacks against other computers. This is when your computer is remotely controlled by a hacker in order to carry out specific tasks on their behalf. Botnets are used for illegal purposes because they make it difficult for authorities to trace back the location of who is behind it since they can use hundreds or even thousands of computers at once which makes tracking them down too time consuming and expensive to be worthwhile.

Give tips for keeping your computer safe while browsing the internet

To help keep your computer safe while browsing the internet, make sure that you always update all of your software on a regular basis to make sure that any vulnerabilities are patched up. You should also choose strong passwords for every website and service such as Gmail or Facebook rather than something like “password” since this is easier to hack into than more complex ones which use different characters.

Another thing that you should do is to avoid using public Wi-Fi hotspots whenever possible since they are easier for malicious hackers to break into and use their devices as a gateway in order to get access into your network at home. If there isn’t any other choice but to connect then make sure that the website or service uses SSL encryption which shows up in web browsers with “HTTPS” rather than just “S”. This ensures that all of the information between both ends remains secure instead of being sent over an insecure connection so it’s best not to enter anything sensitive when browsing on these types of networks unless absolutely necessary.

Lastly, always be wary about clicking on links from people who aren’t known such as those found within emails or messages since these can contain hidden links that take you to other websites which may be dangerous. If this happens then close the page immediately and don’t continue going there or anything else within it.