Hardware or Software Firewalls for Small Businesses

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Small Business Firewalls

Firewalls

While most users are aware that viruses and malware can threaten small businesses in the same way that they can affect home computers, many fail to recognize that small business workstations are at a much higher risk for direct attack than a home computer would be. As such, many small business workstations are only armed with standard antivirus software. While security software can identify and quarantine infections on an individual machine, they cannot prevent infections from making their way across your network onto additional employee devices. This is where the importance of having a firewall solution in place can make a huge difference. Firewalls are a great way to proactively prevent cyberattacks targeting your business rather than dealing with their aftermath.

What is a Firewall?

Simply put, firewalls act as a gatekeeper for your entire network. Their job is to monitor all incoming and outgoing network traffic and decide whether or not it should allow or block that traffic based on the security rules that it has been given.

For example, if your business is running a firewall and it detects that there are certain IP addresses on your network that are making thousands of requests to access the internet, which is slowing down your entire network, the firewall will recognize this as a botnet attack and will block the associated IP addresses to prevent your network from being slowed down to a crawl.

Software firewalls vs. Hardware firewalls

Believe it or not, the workstations within your small business may already be using several firewalls at this very moment. For example, machines running Windows 10 are already running Windows Defender which has a built-in firewall. This is a software firewall that protects that individual machine. Additionally, many routers already contain built-in firewalls that block common cyberattacks. This is a hardware firewall that protects all the devices that are connected to it.

Software Firewalls

Software firewalls are most commonly found on home computers, small businesses with a very small number of workstations, or portable laptop workstations. Because software firewalls are installed directly onto the computer itself, they offer protection no matter where the computer is located. This is a huge advantage for entrepreneurs that do a great deal of traveling, as their laptop workstation can be protected regardless of the network they're connected to no matter where they are for work.

Hardware Firewalls

Hardware firewalls are generally a physical device or router product that is connected between your business' Internet connection and the network that all of your devices connect to. The benefit of a hardware firewall is that it will protect every device that is connected to it, without having to install and manage software on each individual device. In many cases, the router that is providing hardwired and WiFi connections in your office will already offer a built-in firewall. These types of hardware firewalls are great for physical office 'home base' locations because of this.

Which one is right for you?

This question can only be answered by you! In many cases, the correct answer is a little bit of both. While hardware firewalls are great to protect everything that's connected at the office, they cannot protect you if you're working from the airport, a hotel, or a coffee shop. While software firewalls can certainly be set up on the devices you may travel with for work, configuring multiple devices and staying on top of all of those settings can be a huge inconvenience.