Advantages of a software firewall

Free or cheap to install
Easy to install (Usually involves set up wizard)
Specialist skills not needed for configuration
Levels of access can be set

Disadvantages of a software firewall

May slow down applications
May be heavy on system resources
Can be difficult to remove
Every host needs to be updated regularly (patches)
No centralised management

Advantages of a hardware firewall

Centralised management possible
Secure
Fast
Less interference; can be maintained without affecting other areas of network and does not slow down applications (Anand Software and Training Private Limited, 2002-2007)

Disadvantages of a hardware firewall

Expensive to purchase
Specialist knowledge may be required to install and configure
Takes up physical space
Hard to upgrade

Answered by Sonu , an ibibo Master, at 4:57 PM on October 10, 2008

Well Vikas! Firewalls protect private local area networks from hostile intrusion from the Internet. Consequently, many LANs are now connected to the Internet where Internet connectivity would otherwise have been too great a risk.

Firewalls allow network administrators to offer access to specific types of Internet services to selected LAN users. This selectivity is an essential part of any information management program, and involves not only protecting private information assets, but also knowing who has access to what. Privileges can be granted according to job description and need rather than on an all-or-nothing basis.


Here are some more advantages and Disadvatages of firewall:

Advantages of Firewall:-

A feeling of increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.
Relatively inexpensive or free for personal use.
New releases are becoming user friendly.
You can monitor incoming and outgoing security alerts and the firewall company will record and track down an intrusion attempt depending on the severity.
Some firewalls but not all can detect viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or data collectors.
All firewalls can be tested for effectiveness by using products that test for leaks or probe for open ports.


Disadvantages of firewall:-

Firewalls evolve due to cracker's ability to circumvent them increases.
"Always on" connections created by Cable and DSL connections create major problems for firewalls. This can be compared to leaving you car running with the keys in it and the doors unlocked which a thief may interpret as an invitation to "Please steal me".
Firewalls cannot protect you from internal sabotage within a network or from allowing other users access to your PC.
Firewalls cannot edit indecent material like pornography, violence, drugs and bad language. This would require you to adjust your browser security options or purchase special software to monitor your children's Internet activity.
Firewalls offer weak defense from viruses so antiviral software and an IDS (intrusion detection system) which protects against Trojans and port scans should also complement your firewall in the layering defense.
Some firewalls claim full firewall capability when it's not the case. Not all firewalls are created equally or offer the same protection so it's up to the user to do their homework.
Cost varies. There are some great free firewalls available to the PC User but there are also a few highly recommended products, which can only be purchased. The difference may be just the amount of support or features that a User can get from a free product as opposed to a paid one and how much support that user thinks he or she will require.
A firewall protection is limited once you have an allowable connection open. This is where another program should be in place to catch Trojan horse viruses trying to enter your computer as unassuming normal traffic.
There have been claims made by IDS (Intrusion Detection System) companies where Trojan's were detected such as the RuX FireCracker v 2.0 which disabled certain Firewalls programs thus leaving the PC vulnerable to malicious actions.

http://www.sunshadowz.com/artic les/firewalls_advantages.htm

Answered by Hemant Kumar , an ibibo Master, at 4:47 PM on October 10, 2008

Benefits of Firewall Protection
Firewalls protect private local area networks (LANs) from hostile intrusion from the Internet. Consequently, firewall protection allows many LANs to be connected to the Internet where Internet connectivity would otherwise have been too great a risk.
Firewalls allow network administrators to offer access to specific types of Internet services to selected LAN users. This selectivity is an essential part of any information management program, and involves not only protecting private information assets, but also knowing who has access to what. Privileges can be granted according to job description and need rather than on an all-or-nothing basis.
http://www.firewall-softwar e.com/firewall_faqs/benefitfirewall _protection.html
Firewall related Internet security problems
Firewalls introduce problems of their own. Internet security involves constraints, and users don't like this. It reminds them that Bad Things can and do happen. Firewalls restrict access to certain services. The vendors of information technology are constantly telling us "anything, anywhere, any time", and we believe them naively. Of course they forget to tell us we need to log in and out, to memorize our 27 different passwords, not to write them down on a sticky note on our computer screen and so on.
Firewalls can also constitute a traffic bottleneck. They concentrate security in one spot, aggravating the single point of failure phenomenon. The alternatives, howeve,r are either no Internet access, or no security, neither of which are acceptable in most organizations.
http://www.firewall -software.com/firewall_faqs/firewal l_related_problems.html

Answered by Nagendra , an ibibo Master, at 5:31 AM on October 10, 2008

well,Advantages of firewall

A feeling of increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.Relatively inexpensive or free for personal use.New releases are becoming user friendly.You can monitor incoming and outgoing security alerts and the firewall company will record and track down an intrusion attempt depending on the severity.Some firewalls but not all can detect viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or data collectors.All firewalls can be tested for effectiveness by using products that test for leaks or probe for open ports.
DisAdvantages of Firewall

Firewalls evolve due to cracker's ability to circumvent them increases. "Always on" connections created by Cable and DSL connections create major problems for firewalls. This can be compared to leaving you car running with the keys in it and the doors unlocked which a thief may interpret as an invitation to "Please steal me". Firewalls cannot protect you from internal sabotage within a network or from allowing other users access to your PC. Firewalls cannot edit indecent material like pornography, violence, drugs and bad language. This would require you to adjust your browser security options or purchase special software to monitor your children's Internet activity.Firewalls offer weak defense from viruses so antiviral software and an IDS (intrusion detection system) which protects against Trojans and port scans should also complement your firewall in the layering defense.Some firewalls claim full firewall capability when it's not the case. Not all firewalls are created equally or offer the same protection so it's up to the user to do their homework Cost varies. There are some great free firewalls available to the PC User but there are also a few highly recommended products, which can only be purchased. The difference may be just the amount of support or features that a User can get from a free product as opposed to a paid one and how much support that user thinks he or she will require. A firewall protection is limited once you have an allowable connection open. This is where another program should be in place to catch Trojan horse viruses

Answered by Debashis , an ibibo Master, at 9:33 PM on October 09, 2008

1. A feeling of increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.
2. Relatively inexpensive or free for personal use.
3. New releases are becoming user friendly.
4. You can monitor incoming and outgoing security alerts and the firewall company will record and track down an intrusion attempt depending on the severity.
5. Some firewalls but not all can detect viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or data collectors.
6. All firewalls can be tested for effectiveness by using products that test for leaks or probe for open ports.

1. Firewalls evolve due to cracker's ability to circumvent them increases.
2. "Always on" connections created by Cable and DSL connections create major problems for firewalls. This can be compared to leaving you car running with the keys in it and the doors unlocked which a thief may interpret as an invitation to "Please steal me".
3. Firewalls cannot protect you from internal sabotage within a network or from allowing other users access to your PC.
4. Firewalls cannot edit indecent material like pornography, violence, drugs and bad language. This would require you to adjust your browser security options or purchase special software to monitor your children's Internet activity.
5. Firewalls offer weak defense from viruses so antiviral software and an IDS (intrusion detection system) which protects against Trojans and port scans should also complement your firewall in the layering defense.
6. Some firewalls claim full firewall capability when it's not the case. Not all firewalls are created equally or offer the same protection so it's up to the user to do their homework.
7. Cost varies. There are some great free firewalls available to the PC User but there are also a few highly recommended products, which can only be purchased. The difference may be just the amount of support or features that a User can get from a free product as opposed to a paid one and how much support that user thinks he or she will require.
8. A firewall protection is limited once you have an allowable connection open. This is where another program should be in place to catch Trojan horse viruses trying to enter your computer as unassuming normal traffic.
9. There have been claims made by IDS (Intrusion Detection System) companies where Trojan's were detected such as the RuX FireCracker v 2.0 which disabled certain Firewalls programs thus leaving the PC vulnerable to malicious actions.

http://www.sunshad owz.com/articles/firewalls_adv antages.htm

Answered by Nishu's , an ibibo Master, at 6:06 PM on October 09, 2008

Advantages of software firewalls:
*Normally cheaper and easy to install and upgrade
*Ideal for personal or home use
*Easy to configure or reconfigure-requires no specialized skills.

Disadvantages of software firewalls:

*Takes up system resources, and may slow down the applications.
*Sometimes difficult to remove or un-install a firewall completely.
*Not suitable where response times are critical.

Answered by Anju Singh , an ibibo Master, at 3:01 PM on October 09, 2008

Advantages of hardware firewalls over software firewall:

*Speed: Normally, the hardware firewalls are tailored for faster response times, and hence handle more traffic loads.
*Security: A firewall with its own operating system (proprietary) is less prone for attacks. This in turn reduces the security risk. In addition, hardware firewalls have enhanced security controls.
*No Interference: A box, that is separated from other network components can be managed better, and does not load or slowdown other applications. The box can be moved, shutdown, or reconfigured with minimal interference to the network.

Disadvantage of hardware firewalls:

*Cost. Normally, a dedicated hardware firewall costs more than a software firewall.
* Difficult to install, and upgrade.
* Takes up physical space, and involves wiring.

Answered by Gyan Singh , an ibibo Master, at 3:00 PM on October 09, 2008

Well, Hardware firewalls have the following advantages:

- They provide more complete protection than
software firewalls

- A hardware firewall can protect an entire
network of computers

- Since they don't run on your system, hardware
firewalls don't effect system performance.

- Hardware firewalls operate independently of
your operating system and software applications.

Hardware firewalls have the following disadvantages:

- They tend to be more expensive than software
firewalls, although if you have several machines
to protect it can cost less to purchase one
hardware firewall than a number of copies of
a software firewall.

- Since they do not run on your computer, they
can be a bit challenging to configure.




Advantages of software firewalls:

* Normally cheaper and easy to install and upgrade
* Ideal for personal or home use
*Easy to configure or reconfigure-requires no specialized skills.

Disadvantages of software firewalls:

* Takes up system resources, and may slow down the applications.
* Sometimes difficult to remove or un-install a firewall completely.
* Not suitable where response times are critical.

for more details , Please visit the source sites :

http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-4838 .html
http://networking.anandsoft. com/advantages-of-software-firewall s.html

Answered by Alok Gupta , an ibibo Guru, at 2:17 PM on October 09, 2008

Hi Vikas,

below are the advantages:


1. A feeling of increased security that your PC and contents are being protected.
2. Relatively inexpensive or free for personal use.
3. New releases are becoming user friendly.
4. You can monitor incoming and outgoing security alerts and the firewall company will record and track down an intrusion attempt depending on the severity.
5. Some firewalls but not all can detect viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or data collectors.
6. All firewalls can be tested for effectiveness by using products that test for leaks or probe for open ports.

below are the disadvantages:
1. Firewalls evolve due to cracker's ability to circumvent them increases.
2. "Always on" connections created by Cable and DSL connections create major problems for firewalls. This can be compared to leaving you car running with the keys in it and the doors unlocked which a thief may interpret as an invitation to "Please steal me".
3. Firewalls cannot protect you from internal sabotage within a network or from allowing other users access to your PC.
4. Firewalls cannot edit indecent material like pornography, violence, drugs and bad language. This would require you to adjust your browser security options or purchase special software to monitor your children's Internet activity.
5. Firewalls offer weak defense from viruses so antiviral software and an IDS (intrusion detection system) which protects against Trojans and port scans should also complement your firewall in the layering defense.
6. Some firewalls claim full firewall capability when it's not the case. Not all firewalls are created equally or offer the same protection so it's up to the user to do their homework.
7. Cost varies. There are some great free firewalls available to the PC User but there are also a few highly recommended products, which can only be purchased. The difference may be just the amount of support or features that a User can get from a free product as opposed to a paid one and how much support that user thinks he or she will require.
8. A firewall protection is limited once you have an allowable connection open. This is where another program should be in place to catch Trojan horse viruses trying to enter your computer as unassuming normal traffic.
9. There have been claims made by IDS (Intrusion Detection System) companies where Trojan's were detected such as the RuX FireCracker v 2.0 which disabled certain Firewalls programs thus leaving the PC vulnerable to malicious actions.

Hope this will help you
Source: http://www.sunshadowz.com/arti cles/firewalls_advantages.htm

Answered by Sudipta Deb , an ibibo Specialist, at 1:33 PM on October 09, 2008