IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [firewalls]

Concerned with software or hardware firewalls

This can include simple IP address based firewalls, deep inspection firewalls, web application firewalls etc

1161 questions
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Are two firewalls better than one?

Let's say that our first firewall has some vulnerability and a malicious person is able to exploit it. If there's a second firewall after it, he/she should be able to stop the attack, right? Also, what will be the side-effects? I mean, would this…
user3395407
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How important is NAT as a security layer?

I've signed on to help a department move buildings and upgrade their dated infrastructure. This department has about 40 employees, 25 desktops, an old Novell server, and a handful of laboratory processing machines with attached systems. At the old…
iainlbc
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6 answers

What is the difference between $200 and $1,000+ Firewalls?

Instead of asking about the pros and cons of specific hardware, I thought I would ask a broader question: What are the differences between really expensive and inexpensive firewalls? What extra features/support will you typically get? And while…
mdegges
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3 answers

Is it possible to provide Internet to prisoners without risks of them contacting victims or accomplices as a matter of policy?

By securely I mean without the risk of them committing cybercrimes or contacting victims or other people to commit more crimes ? I've read that even with firewalls a way around it could be found, especially if the allow list is large enough. I was…
swarahan
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6 answers

Firewall philosophy

I've always been taught/believed that with a corporate firewall, you block all outgoing traffic to start, then open up only the holes you need for specific traffic. This makes sense to me from both the "controlling what users send out of our…
user16951
10
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4 answers

Software vs Hardware Firewalls

I read an article (can't find link) recently that advocated dumping software firewalls if you had a hardware firewall. I was just curious as to the take on Firewalls in general for a small-medium office. Assume we had a router with a dedicated…
CogitoErgoSum
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4 answers

Is it necessary to setup a firewall in both PC and router?

If I have the router firewall enabled, is it really necessary to setup iptables in my system? Isn't it a little redundant? For example I add a rule in the router where the PC can't use the port 12345 for outgoing connections. Why should I add this…
user15194
8
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3 answers

What is the difference between a Gateway and a Firewall?

What is the difference between a Gateway and a Firewall and how do they relate to one another? I am a developer trying to get a general understanding of network security.
Kyle Johnson
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4 answers

How can attackers bypass firewalls?

I have read the Wikipedia article on firewalls but don't understand firewall security and how an attacker from the outside can bypass the firewall to hack target system. We all know it happens but what methods make it possible to do that?
Ted
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What problems if any are caused by opening a port in the firewall that no program listens on?

I have a port forwarded and open in the firewall that I sometimes use to play games with friends over the internet. The game server doesn't run 24/7, only when I'm actually playing is something actually listening on this port. Are there issues with…
Corey Ogburn
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2 answers

What are the real world risks of opening ports for multiplayer games?

We have a multi-user enterprise training application built using the Unity game engine and are discussing the security implications of adding a Windows Defender Firewall rule globally opening an application specific port for that application on the…
mattnewport
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I'm getting lots of unfamiliar connection attempts, what do I do?

I'm running Mac OS X and I have the system firewall enabled and I have stealth mode enabled. I opened up my system console and noticed that I'm getting tons of blocked connection attempts from places I'm not familiar with. I checked the locations…
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If all ports are closed, do I need firewall?

I often read an article which enables a firewall to secure public Wi-fi. But I think a firewall may not be needed when (like nmap said) all ports are closed. If all ports are closed, all packets which are received by attackers are dropped because…
couyoh
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2 answers

Security concerns allowing internet connected server to write on network server

I don't know much about network engineering since I just started becoming a programmer. The situation is, that my company has a web-interface hosted on one of our servers that is connected to the internet. Employees of the company log into the…
Dyon
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4 answers

HTTPS firewall rule

Setting up Firewall rule for HTTPS websites on basic stateless packet filter firewall This seems like a stupid question, but how do I set up a firewall rule to allow HTTPS on a basic packet filter firewall? The purpose is I want to be able to browse…
jubberq
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