Essay on firewalls and routers

Online presence and connection has become more prevalent in the last few years, something that can be highly attributed to the cheaper browsing charges and improved infrastructure. However, this has brought about more danger to the users than earlier especially with the huge risk of spyware and viruses finding their way into an individual’s computer. This has been greatly combated by using firewalls to ensure that a computer is highly protected. A firewall comes in the form of either a hardware device or a mere software application that repels any traffic that the user has not requested (Levine & Young 2012). This is good protection since the user cannot be reached by any harmful information from the internet. However, use of a router could actually be more beneficial and enhance security much better than the firewall on its own (Levine & Young 2012).
Majority of computer owners harbor the misconception that routers are specifically for large owners with many computers, like in an office. However, a router is essential even for a single computer. Majority of the hackers try to port scan a computer when carrying out their operations (Levine & Young 2012). A router comes in handy for this specific task since it completely blocks all these attempts by the hacker to port scan the computer. For the not-so-high-end routers, they are able to slow down these scans. This ends up wasting a lot of time of the hacker mainly leading to giving up midway. Therefore, they end up searching for other computers that do not have as much protection to waste their time. There is no denying that a firewall is protection for the computer and will more often than not keep off the hackers. However, the router works to ensure maximum protection especially when dealing with hackers who may have the knowledge to work their way around a firewall.

References

Levine, J. R., & Young, M. L. (2012). The Internet for dummies. Hoboken, N. J: John Wiley & Sons.