Firewall Fundamentals
This is the primary function of a firewall in a network.
What is to filter incoming and outgoing network traffic and control the flow?
This type of firewall operates at the network level and is the first generation of firewall technology.
What is a packet filtering firewall?
NAT stands for this and is often a feature in firewalls for translating private IP addresses to a public one for internet access.
What is Network Address Translation?
The OSI layer responsible for providing the protocols and means for actual data transmission over the network.
What is Layer 1 (Physical Layer)?
The common placement of a firewall, positioned between the external internet and the internal network it's protecting.
What is at the network perimeter?
This is the term for a set of defined rules that govern what traffic is allowed or blocked by the firewall.
What are firewall policies or rules?
This kind of firewall works at the session layer and can keep track of connections.
What is a stateful inspection firewall?
This technology is used in firewalls to create a secure communication tunnel between remote users and the firewall.
What is VPN (Virtual Private Network)?
This OSI layer is where routing occurs, directing data packets across the network.
What is Layer 3 (Network Layer)?
This principle should be applied to firewall rules to minimize the exposure of the network to threats.
What is the principle of least privilege?
The method by which firewalls make decisions about what traffic to allow or block based on predetermined security rules.
What is access control?
Firewalls that work on the application layer, inspecting and filtering packets for specific applications.
What is a proxy firewall or application-level gateway?
This firewall technology allows administrators to create rules that can control traffic based on applications, users, and content types.
What is application-aware firewall or next-generation firewall (NGFW)?
Firewalls that work at this OSI layer can make decisions based on application data, such as HTTP requests.
What is Layer 7 (Application Layer)?
Deny all incoming and outgoing traffic by default first, then build up your rules by enabling only the services whose traffic you want in and out.
What is least privilege?
The process by which firewalls can allow for remote users to securely connect to a network by authenticating the user and encrypting data.
What is a VPN?
These firewalls are hosted in the cloud and are designed to secure an organization’s cloud-based resources.
What is a cloud firewall or Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS)?
In firewall terminology, this acronym stands for a set of rules that determines the data that can be encrypted and authenticated in a VPN.
What is an IPsec policy?
The OSI layer that defines the protocols used to describe the format and control structure of frames that are to be transmitted.
What is Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)?
This term describes the maximum amount of data that can pass through a firewall at any given time.
What is throughput?
Firewalls that specifically protect the perimeter of a network by filtering traffic and ensuring that only legitimate traffic is allowed.
What is a perimeter firewall?
This term is used for a personal firewall installed on individual computers within a network.
What is a host-based firewall?
The process by which a firewall filters out potentially dangerous executable files or software by examining file transfers over the network.
What is content filtering or file type filtering?
Firewalls operate primarily at this OSI layer, making decisions based on IP addresses and ports.
What is Layer 3 (Network Layer)?
This type of server often resides in the DMZ, providing services to users on the public internet.
What is a Web Server?