Difference b/w Hardware & Software based firewall

[asadrizvi1]

How can i differenciate the Hardware & Software based firewall?

What are the key advantages of Hardware based firewall?

what are the limitation of software based firewall?

Regards,

[Anim Saxena]

Hi Syed

Software based firewalls are the firewalls which are provided by software for eg you install an antivirus program Mcafee the firewall which will be provided by Mcafee is software based firewall. Windows inbuilt firewall is another example of software based firewall.

Hardware based firewall are those where we require a different hardware to perform packet check. For eg Cisco FWSM,PIX,Fortigate are all example of hardware based firewall.

Limitation of Software based firewall:

Software-based firewalls aren't the ultimate security tool, however. A personal firewall can't prevent viruses from entering your system through legitimate sources such as a web browser or through email. An anti-virus program with constantly updated virus signatures must always be included in an overall security strategy.

Personal firewalls also can't protect an entire network unless the software-based firewall is installed on every computer. In medium and large-scale environments, software-based firewalls must be managed properly to ensure optimal security coverage.

Regards,

Anim Saxena

Technical Community Manager - Network Security

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[asadrizvi1]

Could I compare software based firewall with open source firewall?

[Anim Saxena]

In Open Source if you are using any linux based OS you can use IP Tables to achieve the functionality of firewall. But it is more seucre than software based firewall. But the implementation IP Tables has to be perfect.

Regards,

Anim Saxena

Technical Community Manager - Network Security

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[asadrizvi1]

how the hardware based firewall can efficent over open source firewall?

actually i am compairing the hardware and open source firewall so i need a strong justification,

please help me out in this regards.

[Anim Saxena]

Hi Syed,

In Open source firewalls you can't have HTTPS inspection on user based profiles,Can't be intigrated with AD (Active directory). Hardware firewalls have Granular control; is able to control(allow/block) and prioritize thousands of applications and their features out-of-the-box. Furthermore has ability to create firewall rules based on applications and users not just on ports, protocols and IP addresses.

In hardware firewalls you have Advanced visibility into users’ traffic, including live monitoring of applications seen through the firewall. Real-time knowledge of what’s going through the firewall in terms of applications and users, not just protocols.

[Anim Saxena]

Hi Syed,

If you need more information regarding Firewalls you can go on the below mentioned link:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-1023

Regards,

Anim Saxena

Technical Community Manager - Network Security

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