DarkAlman t1_iuapuxt wrote on October 29, 2022 at 9:47 PM

A firewall is either a piece of software or a physical device that protects an network or a PC/Server from unauthorized access.

The name comes from Firewalls in Cars or Houses which are physical barriers meant to prevent fire from spreading into the passenger compartment or into an adjacent room/house. Like a Firewall in a car a computer Firewall prevents malicious activity from coming into your network from the internet.

The most basic firewalls look at port traffic coming to a device and stop unsolicited traffic. ie any traffic that is trying to access a port that shouldn't be accessible to a hacker.

More advanced Firewalls are called NGFWs (Next-Gen Firewall) or WAFs (Web Application Firewall) that actively look at packets and traffic looking for signs of malicious activity and stop it before it goes to a server.

muthian t1_iuawfc1 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 10:37 PM

Note that firewalls, both the classic and digital versions, are designed to delay for a period of time, not completely stop the danger on the other side. Given enough time without any changes to the firewall, it can be breached (either through intense fire or novel digital attack it's software hasn't been made aware of).

zWeaponsMaster t1_iuay2z2 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 10:50 PM

Or by someone drilling a hole in of an inappropriate size (making firewall policies with more allowance then needed).

whereameye t1_iub8m4g wrote on October 30, 2022 at 12:14 AM

I’m in an intro to networking class. My professor said there are tons and tons of acronyms. We come across dozens each chapter. Here you are dropping 2 more on firewalls. It seems the networking field is completely overrun with acronyms lol

DarkAlman t1_iub9kek wrote on October 30, 2022 at 12:22 AM

PCMCIA - People Cannot Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

IsilZha t1_iubk2fw wrote on October 30, 2022 at 1:48 AM

Pfft, to ensure your WAN has no issues with your IPSec mesh, make sure your ACLs are set, get OSPF or BPG working, and be sure to set your TCP MSS so that you don't get DF flags causing issues due to MTU. And to ensure your VoIP QoS setup the VLANs with appropriate CoS to ensure your RTP is smooth, and that your SIP ALGs are setup properly