Kurdistan Regional Government- Iraq

Ministry of Higher Education \ Scientific Research

Computer Science Department

Firewall

Prepared by :

Miran Naaman Hassan

Amir Hadi

Mohammed Awat

Dyarko Mohammed

Peshraw Rebwar Abdullah

2023-2024

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Contents
What is a Firewall?....................................................................................................................................3
7 Types of Firewalls...................................................................................................................................4
Packet-Filtering Firewalls.........................................................................................................................5
Circuit-Level Gateways............................................................................................................................6
Stateful Inspection Firewalls....................................................................................................................6
Proxy Firewalls (Application-Level Gateways/Cloud Firewalls)................................................................7
Next-Generation Firewalls.......................................................................................................................8
Software Firewalls...................................................................................................................................8
Hardware Firewalls..................................................................................................................................9
Reference..................................................................................................................................................10

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What is FireWall ?

A firewall is a type of cybersecurity tool that is used to filter traffic on a network.

Firewalls can be used to separate network nodes from external traffic sources,
internal traffic sources, or even specific applications. Firewalls can be software,
hardware, or cloud-based, with each type of firewall having its own unique pros
and cons.

The primary goal of a firewall is to block malicious traffic requests and data
packets while allowing legitimate traffic through.[1]

[2]

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7 Types of Firewalls

Firewall types can be divided into several different categories based on their
general structure and method of operation. Here are eight types of firewalls:

 Packet-filtering firewalls
 Circuit-level gateways
 Stateful inspection firewalls
 Application-level gateways (a.k.a. proxy firewalls)
 Next-gen firewalls
 Software firewalls
 Hardware firewalls

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Note: The last three bullets list methods of delivering firewall functionality, rather
than being types of firewall architectures in and of themselves.

How do these firewalls work? And, which ones are the best for your business’

cybersecurity needs?

Here are a few brief explainers:

Packet-Filtering Firewalls

As the most “basic” and oldest type of firewall architecture, packet-filtering

firewalls basically create a checkpoint at a traffic router or switch. The firewall
performs a simple check of the data packets coming through the router—inspecting
information such as the destination and origination IP address, packet type, port
number, and other surface-level information without opening up the packet to
inspect its contents.

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If the information packet doesn’t pass the inspection, it is dropped.[3]

The good thing about these firewalls is that they aren’t very resource-intensive.
This means they don’t have a huge impact on system performance and are
relatively simple. However, they’re also relatively easy to bypass compared to
firewalls with more robust inspection capabilities.[3]

Circuit-Level Gateways
As another simplistic firewall type that is meant to quickly and easily approve or
deny traffic without consuming significant computing resources, circuit-level
gateways work by verifying the transmission control protocol (TCP) handshake.
This TCP handshake check is designed to make sure that the session the packet is
from is legitimate.

While extremely resource-efficient, these firewalls do not check the packet itself.
So, if a packet held malware, but had the right TCP handshake, it would pass right
through. This is why circuit-level gateways are not enough to protect your business
by themselves.[3]

Stateful Inspection Firewalls

These firewalls combine both packet inspection technology and TCP handshake
verification to create a level of protection greater than either of the previous two
architectures could provide alone.

However, these firewalls do put more of a strain on computing resources as well.

This may slow down the transfer of legitimate packets compared to the other
solutions.[3]

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7
Proxy Firewalls (Application-Level Gateways/Cloud
Firewalls)
Proxy firewalls operate at the application layer to filter incoming traffic between
your network and the traffic source—hence, the name “application-level gateway.”
These firewalls are delivered via a cloud-based solution or another proxy device.
Rather than letting traffic connect directly, the proxy firewall first establishes a
connection to the source of the traffic and inspects the incoming data packet.

This check is similar to the stateful inspection firewall in that it looks at both the
packet and at the TCP handshake protocol. However, proxy firewalls may also
perform deep-layer packet inspections, checking the actual contents of the
information packet to verify that it contains no malware.

Once the check is complete, and the packet is approved to connect to the
destination, the proxy sends it off. This creates an extra layer of separation between
the “client” (the system where the packet originated) and the individual devices on
your network—obscuring them to create additional anonymity and protection for
your network.

If there’s one drawback to proxy firewalls, it’s that they can create significant
slowdown because of the extra steps in the data packet transferal process.[3]

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Next-Generation Firewalls
Many of the most recently-released firewall products are being touted as “next-
generation” architectures. However, there is not as much consensus on what makes
a firewall truly next-gen.

Some common features of next-generation firewall architectures include deep-

packet inspection (checking the actual contents of the data packet), TCP handshake
checks, and surface-level packet inspection. Next-generation firewalls may include
other technologies as well, such as intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) that work to
automatically stop attacks against your network.

The issue is that there is no one definition of a next-generation firewall, so it’s

important to verify what specific capabilities such firewalls have before investing
in one.[3]

Software Firewalls
Software firewalls include any type of firewall that is installed on a local device
rather than a separate piece of hardware (or a cloud server). The big benefit of a
software firewall is that it's highly useful for creating defense in depth by isolating
individual network endpoints from one another.

However, maintaining individual software firewalls on different devices can be

difficult and time-consuming. Furthermore, not every device on a network may be
compatible with a single software firewall, which may mean having to use several
different software firewalls to cover every asset. [3]

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Hardware Firewalls
Hardware firewalls use a physical appliance that acts in a manner similar to a
traffic router to intercept data packets and traffic requests before they're connected
to the network's servers. Physical appliance-based firewalls like this excel at
perimeter security by making sure malicious traffic from outside the network is
intercepted before the company's network endpoints are exposed to risk.

The major weakness of a hardware-based firewall, however, is that it is often easy

for insider attacks to bypass them. Also, the actual capabilities of a hardware
firewall may vary depending on the manufacturer—some may have a more limited
capacity to handle simultaneous connections than others, for example.[3]

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Reference
1. https://www.tunnelsup.com/what-is-a-firewall/

2. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/firewalls/what-is-a-

firewall.html

3. https://www.compuquip.com/blog/types-firewall-architectures

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