Internet and applications largely dependent on it have greatly created a different aspect of information management and delivery. Information is easily accessed. The complexity of the Web has also increased human productivity and resourcefulness. There is currently an observed greater demand for Internet-reliant services. Coming with these demands are the rise of attackers that are primarily motivated to steal data and disrupt services. It is here where importance of a firewall is realized.

A firewall is primarily created to regulate the access to a system for safety precautions and to protect computers against hackers. It can be a program, a device or both that checks data passing trough connections in a computer. A firewall will prompt a user for a program or information trying to access a computer. It will only allow the passage of information which the user gave his consent to.

With the growing number of threats in the Internet, the school’s firewalls cannot be ignored. It is not an optional feature but rather a must. There are hundred of potential threats and tools that hackers can utilize to gain access to a computer. Once this happens, a computer can now be used as a bot. It can be commanded to attack other systems, perform port scans, send spammed messages, or in denial of service attacks.

There are a lot of available firewalls free for download. These include Kaspersky Internet Security, Avast Antivirus, Eset Smart Security and many others. These applications are usually combination of an antivirus and a firewall. Such is also a mode of double protection. Installing these softwares would however require turning off software firewalls such as the Windows XP Firewall. Keeping two firewalls is not a good habit. One is enough. Either way, all of these firewalls can efficiently block attacks.

Once a firewall is installed and properly configured, there’s no need to check it very often. It is able to work independently and silently. However, some firewalls may prompt a user for programs that needs user consent prior to running. Others may also prompt a user of a particular site or traffic trying to access his system. The system may also prompt a user in case his firewall got disabled. The importance of firewalls should never be taken for granted. It is one best security measures a user can take. After all, sensitive information that ranges from personal files, personal identifiable information, system stability and a lot more are greatly at stake.