Firewalls vs. Antivirus Software
Staying safe online means using a variety of tools to protect your computer from viruses and malware. Firewalls and antivirus software are two cybersecurity tools that should be in your arsenal, but they each serve a different purpose.
The key difference between firewalls and antivirus software is that firewalls filter out unwanted traffic on the network level, while antivirus software detects and eliminates viruses and malware that are already on your computer.
What is a Firewall?
A firewall is a network security system that serves as a filter between your computer network and the rest of the internet. It can be programmed to keep certain traffic in or out according to pre-defined security rules. Firewalls may be hardware, software, or both.
Newer, next generation firewalls (NGFWs) have additional capabilities like network segmentation, which can keep traffic in specific parts of the network (useful for protecting sensitive data internally). They also include intrusion prevention features to prevent attacks like denial of service and brute-force password hacking.
How a Firewall Works
Firewalls inspect all incoming traffic and ensure it complies with pre-defined security rules. Only legitimate data is allowed into the network, and unauthorized access is blocked. There are a few different methods firewalls use to do this:
- Packet filtering: Data is sent over the internet in the form of packets. Firewalls that use this method inspect each data packet that comes through the network. Those that meet the filter criteria are allowed into the network, while those that don’t are blocked.
- Proxy service: Firewalls that function as proxies serve as go-betweens, requiring outside data to connect with the proxy before it ever gets to your computer. With this method, your computer never makes direct contact with any outside data packets, meaning hackers can’t form a direct connection with your computer. Some online services run slower or don’t work as well when connected through a proxy, though.
- Stateful inspection: Firewalls that use stateful inspection monitor incoming data packets on an ongoing basis, updating their security criteria in response to new information. They also monitor outgoing packets and only allow in incoming packets that respond to outgoing packets in an expected way.
NGFWs use stateful inspection, which is the current standard, alongside packet filtering.
What is Antivirus Software?
Unlike firewalls, which work on a network level, antivirus software combats viruses and malware on your computer. It scans files, detects threats, and removes them from the system.
How Antivirus Software Works
Antivirus software conducts regular, full scans of a device’s file system. It detects anything suspicious, comparing against a database of known malware signatures and behaviors. Then, it handles any detected threats, either by deleting the file or, if that’s not possible, quarantining it away from the rest of the system where it can’t cause any harm. Some methods antivirus software uses to detect malware include:
- Signature-based detection: Signature-based detection compares files against known malware, looking for direct signature matches. This requires the antivirus software’s database to be updated regularly as new malware is discovered.
- Heuristic-based detection: In heuristic-based detection, files are also compared against known malware. Instead of only checking for exact matches, though, the software will look for similar patterns, catching malware that is like but not exactly the same as known malware in the database.
- Behavior-based detection: This kind of detection observes how files behave after they are on the device and looks for anything out of the ordinary or similar to known malware behaviors.
What are the Key Differences Between Antivirus & Firewalls?
| Firewall | Antivirus | |
| Deployment | Software, hardware, or both | Software |
| Where threats are detected | External (incoming data packets from the internet) | Internal (files already on the computer) |
| How threats are detected | Compared against pre-defined security rules | Compared against regularly updated virus database |
| Type of threats protected against | DoS, brute force, drive-by, etc. | Malware, ransomware, Trojans, etc. |
| Main purpose | Monitor and prevent unauthorized network access | Detect and eliminate viruses and malware |
Examples
If you were to try to visit an insecure website with malicious code injected into the page, a firewall would be able to detect that the data packet coming in was from a known malicious website and block the traffic before it entered the network. This would prevent you from ever encountering the malware on the website in the first place.
If you were to download a suspicious file from a phishing email, however, antivirus software would be able to detect the malware and remove it from your computer.
VPN vs. Firewall vs. Antivirus
| VPN | Firewall | Antivirus | |
| Deployment | Hardware, software, or both | Hardware, software, or both | Software |
| Where it works | Network-level | Network-level | Device-level |
| Malware/threat protection? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy protection/encryption? | Yes | Depends on configuration | No |
| Main purpose | Encrypts your own traffic activity to protect sensitive data and mask your IP address | Monitors and prevents unauthorized access to your network | Detects and eliminates viruses and malware from your device |
VPNs encrypt your traffic and obscure your IP address, making it difficult for hackers or other interested parties to monitor your online activity, making them another useful addition to your cybersecurity toolkit. They are not designed to prevent attacks or malware.
Similarities Between Antivirus & Firewalls
Antivirus software and firewalls are both cybersecurity tools made to protect you online. Both types of products help keep your network and computer safe from malware, although they use different methods to do so.
You should run both products continuously in the background in order for them to remain effective. Neither are particularly noticeable during the day-to-day usage of your computer, but both are working in the background 24/7, monitoring and continually updating their protocols to better protect your network from online threats.
How do Firewalls & Antivirus Software Enhance Cybersecurity?
Firewalls enhance cybersecurity by blocking any malicious code or direct connections from malicious actors over the network. Antivirus software scans for threats that are already on your computer to eradicate malware before it can steal or corrupt your data.
Without a firewall or antivirus software, you are vulnerable to malicious attacks and unable to prevent any malware that gets through from infecting your entire network.
How to Choose Between Firewall & Antivirus
Both firewall and antivirus software are crucial components of a well-functioning cybersecurity protocol. You should use both rather than choosing one or the other, as they each work to cover the other’s vulnerabilities.
With just a firewall, you’d still be vulnerable to any malware that made it through and infected your device. With just antivirus, you wouldn’t be protected from attacks like DoS or brute-force that aren’t malware-based.
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