A Quick Guide to Firewalls for First-Time Business Owners
The Internet is overflowing with information, and the first thing a new business owner will want to do is share their expertise with the world by setting up a website. However, it’s not just about getting your name out there – if you aren’t careful, a cyber-criminal can just as easily get into your system, and you’ll find all of your files deleted or an extortion note waiting for you when you get back to work after lunch.
It may sound scary, but with some preparation and knowledge of what to look out for, it’s possible this won’t happen. This guide will show you how to protect your company from online threats and give you a few quick tips for setting up your own firewall.
Software Firewalls Versus Hardware Firewalls
Hardware firewalls are the most effective way of keeping your system safe. For users, the security and performance benefits include:
- Faster response times
- Enhanced security features
- No network interference
To view a range of leading hardware firewalls, you can visit SonicWall Online.
Software firewalls, on the other hand, are flexible and can be very affordable. They set up to a location of your choice and then automatically detect any applications that are attempting to communicate outside of it. This is great for setting up your system quickly – no need to spend time configuring ports or worrying about updating software to create a reliable firewall.
Main security areas
The four main security areas with a firewall are:
Connectivity and Identification
This is connected to the IP address of the computer system. If you did not have a firewall, then you would have all of your computers on the same subnet, so if a hacker did manage to get their hands on your systems, once they got authorised access, it would be easy for them to do what they wanted without any identification. This is where your computer ID will come in. It should be unique to each computer and can consist of a variety of different things like MAC address or serial number.
The Default Deny Policy
Once a hacker has got past the authentication process and they have managed to get authorised access, they will try to do whatever they can and infect your systems. This is why you need a default deny policy. It stops unauthorised services from functioning. If the attacker were attempting to use an email server, then it will not work if your default deny policy is set up correctly. However, if you want to allow a certain service, it can be added to the exception list.
Network Segmentation
This refers to setting up different networks for different tasks as well as limiting unnecessary traffic to avoid any unwanted issues. For instance, you can have your network segmented by business and personal use so that if something does go wrong, then it won’t affect the safety of your business.
External Connections
This is making sure that there are no holes in the network that could be used as an escape route for hackers. You need to make sure that every single connection is secured. It’s a good idea to ask an outside source what they would do and look into how things should be configured to improve the security of your firewalls. This will help you register with organisations like PCI-DSS, which will give you peace of mind about the safety of your system.
It’s not hard to protect your system if you know what you’re doing. A firewall can be a great first step in protecting your computer systems, but it’s also worth looking into other methods. For example, certain configurations and settings are fairly standard in software firewalls that should be monitored closely to make sure that everything is working as it should be. You may also want to try out some of the other security tools that are available to see if they offer anything more than a full-scale firewall does.
