Introduction:
A firewall has an important role in the prevention of network attacks since it acts as a barrier between an internal trusted network and external untrusted networks, like the Internet. Additionally, it is capable of enforcing a range of policies and rules for controlling the traffic flow both out of as well as into a network and hence adds value to the network security (Liang and Kim, 2022). However, a firewall prevents different types of network attacks through mechanisms like pocket filtering, application layer filtering, stateful inspection, intrusion detection and prevention, network address translation, proxy services, altering and logging, virtual private networks, DDoS mitigation and policy enforcement (Jingyao et al.2020).
The way a firewall helps in preventing network threats:
Pocket filtering:
A firewall keeps on inspecting data packets, which are nothing but smaller units of data since they leave or enter the network followed by comparing them against a set of predefined rules (Naik et al.2017). These rules help in determining which of the packets can be allowed and what should be denied depending on different criteria, such as the source and destination IP addresses, protocols and port numbers, resulting in helping block the unwanted traffic and malicious packets from getting the internal network (Arefin et al.2021).
Stateful inspection:
Stateful firewalls are capable of examining the individual packets besides maintaining a record of the active connection states, through maintaining the track of every connection state, like TCP handshake, it can make highly intelligent decisions regarding denying or allowing traffic, which in turn prevents various kinds of attacks, including TCP/IP session hijacking (Akbar and Ridha, 2018).
Filtering in the application layer:
Some advanced firewalls, namely the next-generation firewalls, are capable of inspecting traffic at the application layer of layer 7 associated with the OSI framework followed by identifying and blocking specific services and applications, enabling the prevention of the attacks that employ protocols such as FTP, DNS or HTTP for malicious purposes (Zaripova, 2021).
Intrusion detection and prevention:
Firewalls are armed with intrusion detection and prevention systems that can help analyze different traffic patterns to find indications towards known vulnerabilities or anomalies. However, after detecting these patterns, a firewall takes action to block the suspicious traffic by altering the network administrations (Naik et al.2017).
Proxy services:
A firewall is capable of acting as a proxy server, in which it receives requests from internal clients followed by forwarding the same to the external servers as a representative of the clients, resulting in underlying the IP addresses and network architecture from the external sources, making it complex for the hackers to target directly the internal sources (Arefin et al.2021).
Network address translation:
A firewall ends up using a network address translator for translating internal IP addresses into a sole public IP address while sending the traffic out to the internet, resulting in making it difficult for the cybercriminals to find the original IP address held by the internal devices (Zaripova, 2021).
Virtual private network:
A firewall is capable of providing safe remote access via VPNs, responsible for encrypting traffic between the internal network and the branch offices or users, which in turn ensures that data transferred over the internet stays protected and confidential from eavesdropping (Rao and Satya Prasad, 2021).
Altering and logging:
A firewall ends up maintaining network activity logs, which is utterly important for both auditing as well as incident response (He, 2021). Additionally, it generates alerts as soon as it detects any unauthorized or suspicious activity, enabling the network administrator to take timely action against the same (Neupane et al.2018).
Enforcement of policy:
A firewall helps an enterprise implement and enforce critical security policies continuously across its network, resulting in helping ensure that content filtering, access controls and other cybersecurity measures get uniformly applied (Rao and Satya Prasad, 2021).
DDoS prevention:
Certain firewalls include the capability of detecting and mitigating DDoS attacks by filtering out the malicious and excessive traffic associated with an attack, hence ensuring the availability of the network (Neupane et al.2018).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, firewalls play the role of a basic element of network security that allows for the prevention of network attacks through traffic control, suspicious network activity detection and security policy enforcement (Chopra, 2016). Additionally, they provide a crucial initial line of defence in safeguarding the availability, integrity and confidentiality of the network. It is worth mentioning in this context that firewalls are simply a single layer of cyber defence (He, 2021). Therefore, a comprehensive strategy for network security would complement firewall security in terms of incorporating multiple security postures for addressing emerging attack vectors and threats (Akbar and Ridha, 2018).
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