However, there are always a few interested visitors that businesses can do without. On the Internet thieves and spies come in the form of hackers, so businesses need to put a lock on their door to the Internet which is where the firewall comes into the picture. Applying a firewall ensures that there is only one point through which data can enter the business local network, and importantly that traffic through that point can be monitored. The firewall can restrict access to your local network from the Internet by effectively hiding all or parts of the local network from outsiders, and by applying various filtering and relaying mechanisms. Thus, you are able to let in the people you want and at the same time bar those that you don t want from gaining access.
Firewalls are clever mechanisms typically a combination of hardware and software.
Myriads of such possible combinations exist, allowing a great degree of flexibility. The filtering mechanism of a firewall looks at things such as where the visitor data comes from, its destination, its contents or the like. That way they share a common language . It is these packets that the firewall examines and, provided they re acceptable, relays. A firewall can also simply but efficiently hide the structure and contents of your local network from outsiders.