Firewall, defined asa set of systems implemented to control the identity and how users access and use networks. Although a firewall is very important for protecting data, network users, and network devices, it also has some weaknesses.
Firewall Advantages:
Firewall helps organizations implement their security policies and security measures.
Additionally, it implements access controls, where access to certain network services can be selectively granted to specific groups through authentication.
It also allows network administrators to evaluate and monitor network traffic.
Finally, it can alert network owners and users to any suspicious network activities.
Disadvantages of Firewalls:
Since firewalls are often implemented as gateways or bridges between networks, attacks carried out by the network system are not detected by the firewall. For example, if a user with access rights, knowingly or unknowingly, grants access to certain services to another user without access rights, the firewall will not detect it.
It can only filter out intruders that pass through the firewall, so if a hacker has a way to get around the firewall, they will not be detected.
It requires a set of well-structured security policies to function properly. Firewalls cannot protect networks with excessive rules and policies.
If permission is granted to someone, the firewall's ability to protect or filter is limited. For example, if a user grants permission to spam emails to enter the inbox, the email filtering firewall will not stop emails from the excluded address, even if they contain malicious links and viruses.
