The internet has become an important part in our daily life. With such importance, attackers might make use of this instance by implementing cyber attack techniques. Without any kind of prevention tactics, your computer could be vulnerable to attacks. One such is the cyber security methods. When speaking of cyber security methods, there are 2 well known of them. Those are the Firewall and the Antivirus solution. The term firewall and the antivirus can be confusing to many. Even though the goal of both are the same (to provide security to the computer), the functions and the way they operate are completely different. Knowing the correct difference between them will help you to choose the right cyber security solution.
In this article, I will be listing out the Firewall Vs Antivirus | 5 Differences between Firewall and Antivirus. At the end of this post, you will know which is the better cyber security protection.
Let's get started,
1. Purpose of Application
The Firewall acts as a barrier between the local computer and the internet. It monitors all the traffic which gets in and leaves the computer. Using a set of rules, the firewall will decide whether to allow or deny these network traffic. And also firewall can be used to block untrustworthy websites and prevent insecure applications from connecting to the internet.
On the other hand, An Antivirus is a type of application software which prevents malicious programs from accessing the computer. Whatever the file present on your system, the antivirus software will necessarily scan those files for infections. Preventive measures include quarantine and permanent removal. Additionally most antivirus softwares does the work of internet traffic control.
2. Working Level
The security provided by the firewall is at the network protocol level. Which means that both private and public networks are being safeguarded. This has a potential downside too. The firewall at the network protocol level only ensures security pre-defined from the set of network protocol rules.
On the contrary, Antivirus provides security at the file level. This means that it only scans for applications having any kind of viruses, worms, spywares etc....
3. Method of Implementation
The firewall functions by the way of monitoring and filtering packets. They have a set of rules pre-defined which allows or denies incoming and outgoing packets. Hence, firewall has the capability to deal only with external threats.
Whereas in Antivirus it works by scanning, detecting and eliminating viruses off your computer. An files that suspects to be infected will be removed immediately. Therefore, Antivirus can detect both internal and external threats.
4. No. of Users
In the case of firewall, a single server computer can acts as a firewall in order for protecting the entire network.
Coming to Antivirus, a single package can be used for a number of computers on the same network. For this purpose many of the antivirus programs offer discounts.
5. Presence on the system
Software based firewalls are built in default on every single PC. They can be turned either ''On'' or ''Off'' using the system settings. However if you need to secure the entire network, you must consider investing in a firewall appliance such as the router. This is also known as hardware based firewall.
Moving to Antivirus, except for the Windows defender antivirus, other versions do not come built in. Therefore, the user has to separately install them to protect themselves from the potential threats.
No comments:
Post a Comment