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Firewalls Advantages and Disadvantages

What are the advantages of Firewall Use?
  1. A feeling of increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.
  2. Relatively inexpensive or free for personal use.
  3. New releases are becoming user friendly.
  4. You can monitor incoming and outgoing security alerts and the firewall company will record and track down an intrusion attempt depending on the severity.
  5. Some firewalls but not all can detect viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or data collectors.
  6. All firewalls can be tested for effectiveness by using products that test for leaks or probe for open ports.

Disadvantages of use

  1. Firewalls evolve due to cracker's ability to circumvent them increases.
  2. "Always on" connections created by Cable and DSL connections create major problems for firewalls. This can be compared to leaving you car running with the keys in it and the doors unlocked which a thief may interpret as an invitation to "Please steal me".
  3. Firewalls cannot protect you from internal sabotage within a network or from allowing other users access to your PC.
  4. Firewalls cannot edit indecent material like pornography, violence, drugs and bad language. This would require you to adjust your browser security options or purchase special software to monitor your children's Internet activity.
  5. Firewalls offer weak defense from viruses so antiviral software and an IDS (intrusion detection system) which protects against Trojans and port scans should also complement your firewall in the layering defense.
  6. Some firewalls claim full firewall capability when it's not the case. Not all firewalls are created equally or offer the same protection so it's up to the user to do their homework.
  7. Cost varies. There are some great free firewalls available to the PC User but there are also a few highly recommended products, which can only be purchased. The difference may be just the amount of support or features that a User can get from a free product as opposed to a paid one and how much support that user thinks he or she will require.
  8. A firewall protection is limited once you have an allowable connection open. This is where another program should be in place to catch Trojan horse viruses trying to enter your computer as unassuming normal traffic.
  9. There have been claims made by IDS (Intrusion Detection System) companies where Trojan's were detected such as the RuX FireCracker v 2.0 which disabled certain Firewalls programs thus leaving the PC vulnerable to malicious actions.

Are Firewalls here to stay?

Networks require a firewall in addition to other security precautions within their network. As more personal users log in to the Internet (Network) every day, the challenge for intruders, whether malicious or data collectors, to break into these computers increases. Firewalls have evolved due to these threats and will continue to do so. All evidence points to the fact that Firewalls are here to stay and everyone will eventually require one whether it's an already built in component of their Operating System or a stand-alone.

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