If you are a small business the midnight oil flows, and really happy the internet utility you’re paying for is working.
A firewall is either a program or a piece of equipment that isolates your computer from the internet, and closes all the ports on the computer opening only those needed for communication. The internet provider gave you a modem that has some firewalling and routing capability but it is limited.
There are 65,535 ports for communication with other computers, programs, and the internet. A computer directly exposed to the internet without a firewall will be infected by a virus.
Not long ago, I ran an experiment on a Windows 7 computer, and I put it on the internet directly exposing it. The antivirus is set to continual scan, and it got infected in about 15 minutes without the benefit of a firewall.
Another class of device is called a UTM appliance. This is typically a piece of hardware and the acronym stands for Unified Threat Management. This one device combines antivirus scanning, ad/web filtering, fire walling, and routing capability. Why are these important?
There are only a few, UTM, firewalls that have rated antivirus scanning capability of internet traffic before it reaches the desktop. UTM devices creates a second possibility a virus caught instead of just one.
Ad and web filtering are also important. Ads on the internet have become vectors of computer infections. Not all ads have viruses attached, but if you don’t need to see them why have them at all. The same with websites. The firewall will pop up a warning, alerting the user to viruses on the website. The Ad and web work in conjunction with DNS filtering setup by the UTM provider in the unit.
Unified threat management devices also have firewall and routing features. The UTM device can open and close ports, and only accept communication from specific IP addresses on the internet. If the IP address is not on the list, communication will not happen. The UTM will also facilitate connections between offices for secure communication over a VPN encrypted tunnel. The two networks joined together will share documents and printers more easily, over the tunnel.
So, why is the UTM hardware better than the software firewall that comes with my antivirus? Aren’t I still getting a double bang for my buck? The answer to that question is no.
The UTM hardware is a small computer with specially designed hardware to execute the proprietary software independent of your computer. Whereas, the antivirus software / firewall runs on your computer using its computing power.
If you are running that kind of configuration, your computer is working harder than it should, not to mention introducing bug vulnerabilities from the combination of windows and the Antivirus / firewall software.
It is a really good idea to run antivirus on the desktop, but do it without the firewall option get another piece of equipment to do that specific network job.
Does your business need the extra capability of a unified threat management device they offer a lot of features for the dollar? You may be thinking it must be hard to setup. That is a yes, but many of these UTM providers have hardware and software support for configurations.
When you need help for the initial setup, call the provider of the unit. They have fully trained techs that will logon remotely and help you set up. Once setup is complete, you really do not need to do anything else to it. It runs in the back ground of your network doing its job protecting it.
