The Advantages and Disadvantages of Hardware and Software Firewalls

A Firewall is a barrier that is designed to prevent unauthorized access to a computer as well as unauthorized outflow of data from a computer. Firewalls protect your computer or network from the activities of hackers and malicious software or websites that may try to infiltrate or damage your computer. A firewall could be a piece of equipment (Hardware firewall) or a program that is installed on a computer (Software firewall). These two types of firewalls have advantages to their use but they each also have disadvantages. These pros and cons are discussed below.

Hardware Firewalls

These are known as Network firewalls because they are used to protect several connected computers on a network.

Advantages of Hardware Firewalls

- Single Central Solution, Easier to Maintain and Ideal for Large Organizations: A hardware firewall allows a large organization to have a central solution for its firewall needs. This would be better than having to install and manage firewall software on every computer that it is connected to its network. Configuration changes to a hardware firewall affect all the computers on that network. Thus, those changes do not have to be carried out on each and every computer.

- Require Little Configuration or User Input: Hardware firewalls provide strong protection right out of the box. They do not require any configuration on the part of the individual users. If any such configuration is needed, it is usually carried out centrally by an experienced IT professional precluding the occurrence of errors which may render the firewall useless.

- Can Handle Greater Amounts of Traffic: A large network of computers generates a lot of traffic and hardware firewalls are especially designed to manage and handle such amounts of traffic while protecting the network at the same time.

- Advanced and Extra Features: These include features like being able to create and manage multiple firewalls (e.g. between different departments in an organization), the use of more sophisticated protection methods, etc.

Disadvantages of Hardware Firewalls

- Expensive: While hardware firewalls are available at different prices, they are certainly a lot more expensive than software firewalls.

- Less Upgradable: Hardware firewalls cannot be easily upgraded as software firewalls can.

- May Not Adequately Block Outgoing Traffic: Some hardware firewalls work by only preventing external intrusion into a network and allowing all outbound traffic which they consider "trusted" to leave freely. If hacker or malware manages to breach the firewall, he (or it) could retrieve and export sensitive information unchecked and undetected.

Software Firewalls

Software firewalls are also called Personal or Host-based firewalls because they are installed on individual computers.

Advantages of Software Firewalls

- Portable: Since software firewalls are installed on individual computers they allow users to have firewall protection at all times. For example, people still connect to the internet when they leave an organization's network and for this they need firewall protection.

- Easily Upgraded: Upgrading software firewalls is easy as updates are simply downloaded from the internet.

- Cheap and Ideal for Individuals and Small Businesses: Firewall software is typically several times cheaper than buying firewall hardware. Installing software firewalls on individual computers is more cost-effective if protection is needed for only one or a few computers.

- Can Effectively Block Outgoing Traffic: Personal firewalls can be configured to authorize only certain applications or programs to connect to a network or the internet. In the event that malware finds its way unto a computer, software firewalls can prevent it from sending unauthorized data - which may contain passwords and financial information - out of your computer.

Disadvantages of Software Firewalls

- Can Be Defeated By User's Lack of Computer Security Experience: With personal firewalls users need to know how to configure them to achieve optimum security. Improper configuration may render a personal firewall useless. Many firewalls usually display prompts to alert users of unauthorized incoming or outgoing traffic whether safe or unsafe. If a user cannot tell whether such traffic is unsafe, he or she may allow dangerous traffic to enter or leave the computer.

- Harder to Maintain: When firewall software is installed on several computers such as in a large organization, it can be difficult to ensure that each and all of them are updated and properly configured.

- Only Protect Individual Computers: A personal firewall only protects the computer on which it is installed.

Conclusion

In reality the best form of firewall protection is a combination of both hardware and software firewalls. This leverages their respective advantages while minimizing the effects of their disadvantages.