Difference Between Hardware And Software Firewall

Firewall is the software that can prevent hijacking of information from the personal computer when offline via the hardware and when online via the internet. Hence, there are two types of firewall, hardware firewall, and software or internet firewall. In this article, I’m going to discuss difference between hardware and software firewall.

A firewall is software or hardware that can block various kinds of malware, which could otherwise scan the entire information stored on the computer to find a vulnerability or weak point to steal important and personal information like credit card number, password, etc. The various types of hijacking softwares against which protection is sought are viruses, Spywares, Trojans, worms, hijackers, and Malware.

Software Firewall

A software firewall is a program that can be installed onto the PC to monitor and restrict the various programs being accessed for potentially hidden malware and other suspicious programs that can steal personal information from the computer.

Software firewalls are programs that are installed using the internet like any other user-friendly softwares on GUI with the exception of Windows firewall, which is integrated as SP2 IN XP and VISTA.  This also monitors traffic into the PC and stops harmful and potentially harmful and unidentified programs from sending any information in and out of the PC.

Hardware Firewall

Hardware firewalls are plugging pins that intervene the flow of information between the internet connection and PC.  These firewalls are found in the networking equipment like routers that diverts the internet and wireless connectivity over a number of systems in a business center or in an office environment, can actually if not protected can corrupt the entire network. This will ensure safe sharing of broadband between several computers and users. These firewalls comes built-in within the devices aiming to stop hackers and unauthorized and restricted users from accessing restricted information like files on your computers access to printers or scanners that can be shared between users and computers on a network.

Difference Between Hardware and Software Firewall

The difference between a hardware and a software firewall is that hardware firewalls are useful in stopping the unwanted incoming traffic, but is not capable of identifying the programs running on your computer like harmful software stored on your external drives and PC. Similarly, they are not capable of stopping the programs from sending information out of the computer like a software firewall. With a few exceptions, a hardware firewall does not protect like a spyware or Trojan Horse programs from programs installed in the computer or for other vulnerabilities in Windows.

Many Windows users are carried away by a sense of false security that is claimed when a router is being  installed with a built-in firewall as a router will not be able to distinguish between the legitimate program from a malicious one that is to be accessed via the internet. Software firewalls will decide which programs can access  internet and which cannot. Nevertheless, the firewall of both types fail to detect or remove this software if installed. More advanced software firewalls for Windows allow or ask permissions by monitoring system files for changes or by prompting users to grant permissions to applications to access personal information from user and administrative accounts. However, in addition to Windows Firewall there are other firewall security Softwares and Hardwares are available.