 - A personal firewall (sometimes called a desktop firewall) is a software
application used to protect a single Internet-connected computer from intruders. Personal firewall protection is especially useful for users with "always-on" connections such as DSL or cable modem. Such connections use a static IP address that makes them especially vulnerable to potential hackers.
Often compared to anti-virus applications, personal firewalls
work in the background at the device (link layer) level to protect the
integrity of the system from malicious computer code by controlling Internet
connections to and from a user's computer, filtering inbound and outbound
traffic, and alerting the user to attempted intrusions.
Several companies have announced plans to develop personal firewall
solutions that will go right in the chips used in DSL and cable
modems. It is generally believed that personal firewall protection will
become standard issue for new home computers in the not-too-distant future.
| LAST UPDATED: |
31 Jul 2001
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