Many of the businesses solely depend on Information Technology for their basic works, some for the online payment and some for exchanging the highly valuable data from their clients or for storing the critical and confidential business information. The advancement and innovations in the Information Technology has undoubtedly made work easier but every action has an opposite reaction, so does the IT have. The technology has been making work easier but it is also a threat to the privacy and security of the user.
Today, computers are the storehouse of critical and private information of the businesses and must be protected at any cost. Therefore, the firewall is a must need for every business whether it is small scale or an extended one. A firewall acts as a filter and protective shield between the computer and the cyberspace. Firewall filters the traffic coming from outside to the internal network and permits only allowed connections, users and IPs as per the set criteria and thereafter blocks or allows the data. Most of the firewalls only examine the incoming traffic and therefore they may fail to keep an eye on the information leaving the computer that may contains banking information, business reports and other personal details. A good firewall monitors both the incoming and outgoing traffic for better and reliable security against cyber hack and attacks.
Why Your Business Needs a Firewall?
Most of the IT businesses, switch to cloud for the safety but even with all the amazing protections businesses get in the cloud; it doesn’t shield the entire technical infrastructure from threats. Suppose there are 50 computer systems installed in the company and each of them is equipped with an internet connection. Every person using those computers will check email, visit different websites and will also Google different kinds of stuff. There are high chances of them getting stumble upon a site that isn’t properly secure. Suppose any of the employees goes to a compromised site and malicious software infects their machine. Later that person will try to access secure data in the cloud. Even though your cloud environment is secure, the computer connecting to it isn’t. As a result, any data exchanged between the server and the employee computer could be intercepted by the malicious software and sent to someone else who is not authorized. That’s a significant threat to your business, and it only takes one infected website to trigger a breach. Therefore there is a need of well-configured firewall for offices to secure the companies privacy and data.
How Firewall Protects Your Business?
Software firewalls provide decent levels of protection and are certainly much, much better than having no firewall at all. However, software solutions are best suited for home use or for very small businesses. People often argue that software solution shouldn’t be described as the firewall as the threat has already passed through the router, network switch and local hard drives before reaching the software solution. Whereas the hardware firewalls often provide far more sophisticated controls than just web filtering and basic data scanning. These devices provide 24/7 protection. All data from the Internet must pass through the firewall before arriving on any internal drives. Unlike software firewalls, hardware firewalls focus on intelligent functions that analyze huge datasets to recognize malware and cyber-attacks based on irregular activities. Configuring hardware firewall device is complex and difficult, so there is a need to consult an IT support provider to configure, monitor and maintain your firewall device.
If your business is small scale you can use the software firewall but if your business includes the large-scale network of computers with internet connections then getting a hardware firewall will be the best solution for your business!
Author, Freelance writer
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