How Firewalls work

What Firewall Software Does

How do Firewalls protect Businesses

• Large corporations often have very complex firewalls in place to protect their extensive networks.
• On the outbound side, firewalls can be configured to prevent employees from sending certain types of emails or transmitting sensitive data outside of the network.
• On the inbound side, firewalls can be programmed to prevent access to certain websites (like social networking sites).
• Additionally, firewalls can prevent outside computers from accessing computers inside the network.
• A company might choose to designate a single computer on the network for file sharing and all other computers could be restricted.
• There is no limit to the variety of configurations that are possible when using firewalls.
• Extensive configurations typically need to be handle and maintained by highly trained IT specialists, however.

The need of Firewalls for Personal Use

• For home use, firewalls work much more simply.
• The main goal of a personal firewall is to protect your personal computer and private network from malicious mischief.
• Malware, malicious software, is the primary threat to your home computer. Viruses are often the first type of malware that comes to mind. A virus can be transmitted to your computer through email or over the Internet and can quickly cause a lot of damage to your files. Other malware includes Trojan horse programs and spyware.
• These malicious programs are usually designed to acquire your personal information for the purposes of identity theft of some kind.
• There are two ways a Firewall can prevent this from happening.
• It can allow all traffic to pass through except data that meets a predetermined set of criteria, or it can prohibit all traffic unless it meets a predetermined set of criteria.

This software is highly customizable, so that you can adjust it to suit your specific needs.

Comodo Internet Security Suite combines the award-winning Comodo firewall with a powerful antivirus to offer a multilayered approach in protecting millions of computers around the world for free.