A firewall protects networked computers from intentional hostile intrusion that could compromise confidentiality or result in data corruption or denial of service. It examines all traffic routed between the two networks to see if it meets certain criteria. If it does, it is routed between the networks, otherwise it is stopped.
Why is an appliance-based firewall is more secure than those implemented on top of the commercial operating system (Software based)?
- Appliance based firewalls cannot be upgraded
- Firewalls implemented on a hardware firewall are highly scalable
- Hardware appliances does not suffer from security vulnerabilities associated with the underlying operating system
- Operating system firewalls are highly configured