FIREWALL

Internet security to protect a LAN against hackers . A combination of hardware and software acts as a firewall to separate the LAN into two parts. "Normal" data is available outside the firewall, while "hot stuff" is inside the firewall.

This term refers to security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access. The term is used in a more general sense than its original usage as a "firewall machine." Originally a firewall was a dedicated UNIX gateway machine with special security barriers. It protected other machines on web connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to protect a LAN of more loosely administered machines hidden the firewall from hackers, crackers, and phreakers. Incoming packets from the web are met with firewall barriers of various types that trash packets not allowed behind the firewall machine. Intranet firewalls are discussed at http://intrack.com/intranet/firewall.shtml. Terminology and firewall frequently asked questions (FAQs) are at http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~shinj/tcom500/glossary.html. Links to web safety can be found at http://www.pbs.org/internet/relatedsites/bs/index.html.

Secures a company or organization’s internal network from unauthorized external access.The security may be provided by authentication techniques,software,and hardware.

A firewall is used to protect a networked server from damage by those who log in to it. This can either be a computer equipped with security features, software protection (called defensive coding), or both. A firewall allows only certain messages from the Internet to flow in and out of the internal network. So, basically, it's a lot like a wall of fire. Whatever.