hardware / software firewall and how does a hardware firewall work

edan · Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 57

Can you tell differences between software and hardware firewalls and how does a hardware firewall works? Also, if I have a hardware firewall do I have to install software firewall also? I know that I have asked many questions but I am curious and concerned about my computer security. I hope you will find a time to answer me.

ernestus · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 59

Main difference between hardware and software firewall is that hardware firewall is dedicated appliance. Hardware firewalls offer better protection then software ones. They also do not use resources and are not prone to software bugs, while software firewalls can use many resources. Hardware firewall can block ports and allow traffic only on designated ports. Second way is when hardware firewall acts like a proxy server. This adds to security because computers behind firewall are not connected directly to internet. Only proxy maintains connection to internet and it can deny access to unwanted packets to your computer. You can have both hardware and software firewalls at the same time but I can not see the reason for that. Hardware firewall is more then enough.

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hardware / software firewall and how does a hardware firewall work

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