Why traditional firewalls fall short & what to do about it
In cybersecurity, it is best to have layers of defenses. Antivirus software isn’t going to stop someone from walking off with a laptop, and physical locks on the door to the server room aren’t going to stop cybercriminals from connecting to the servers over RDP. Different solutions exist to prevent the myriad of cyberattacks present today. It is important for a company to implement many of these solutions to remain secure.
One tool needed to secure an environment is the endpoint firewall. All the way back in 2001, Microsoft realized that in order to secure machines running Windows this new tool was needed to block unwanted network connections. Initially released as “Internet Connection Firewall” and later rebranded and significantly improved to the “Windows Firewall”, and then finally to its current form the “Windows Defender Firewall”, this software helps protect machines and is now turned on by default on Windows installations.
Most users will rarely interact with the Windows Defender Firewall, often only ever seeing a pop up informing them of the type of connection they are using, but it is a powerful tool in preventing cyberattacks, both to individual users and businesses.
