Do I need a firewall if I have a router?
There are two types of firewalls: hardware firewall and software
firewall. The router functions as a hardware firewall, while Windows includes a
software firewall. There are also other third-party firewalls that can be
installed.
In August 2003, if you connected a Windows XP system to the
Internet without a firewall, the Blaster worm could be detected in minutes,
which was noticed the vulnerability in network services revealed by Windows XP
on the Internet.
In addition to demonstrating the importance of installing
security patches, this also highlights the importance of using a firewall,
which prevents network traffic from accessing your computer. But if your
computer is behind a router, do you need to install a software firewall?
How routers work as rigid firewalls
Home routers use network address translation (NAT) to provide a
single IP address from the Internet service between various home computers.
When traffic from the Internet reaches your router, your router doesn't know
which computer to send it to, so it throws the traffic away. In effect, NAT
acts as a firewall that prevents incoming requests from reaching your computer.
Depending on your router, you may be able to block certain types of outgoing
traffic by changing your router settings.
It is possible to forward some traffic to the router by setting
a port forwarding or placing a computer in DMZ (demilitarized zone), where all
incoming traffic is sent and activated. DMZ, of course, forwards all traffic to
a particular computer: the computer will no longer benefit from the router
which acts as a firewall.
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