What is a Firewall?

When you use your computer, data moves in and out of your hardware and software.  This data is termed "data packets" and a firewall check this data packet to make sure it is safe for your computer or network.  The computer and the Internet are new to society and terms and definitions are still being defined.  Here are a couple definitions for the term "firewall"

Wikipedia defines "Firewall":
In computing, a firewall is a software or hardware-based network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining whether they should be allowed through or not, based on applied rule set. A firewall establishes a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and another network (e.g., the Internet) that is not assumed to be secure and trusted. 
Many personal computer operating systems include software-based firewalls to protect against threats from the public Internet. Many routers that pass data between networks contain firewall components and, conversely, many firewalls can perform basic routing functions.
Webopedia defines "Firewall":
A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
 Other good articles to check out are "How Firewalls Work" by Jeff Tyson, "What is a firewall?" by Microsoft and "How to Turn Your Computer's Firewall On and Off for Beginners" in LifeHacker by Whitson Gordon

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Author: Nicholas Coriano

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About PushYourRank.com: PushYourRank.com (the Blog) is a blog that helps small businesses, start-ups, developers, amateurs website builders, bloggers and entrepreneurs develop their websites, their social media presence, their search engine optimization techniques and more ....online.  The Blog publishes articles about Ecommerce, Email Marketing and How To Make Money Online...as well as any topic that pertains to the Internet or Online.  If you need help developing a website, SEO or Social Media outsourcing, see NewYorkWebsiteDesignCenter.com, if you would like to advertise or have us publish an article on a certain subject, please email us at PushYourRank@Gmail.com