Imagine hundreds, thousands even, of people standing outside the door to your home or apartment. One at a time, they walk up, knock and wait for an answer. When they don’t get one, they turn around and walk away. When they walk away, the next person walks up to knock. A few of them jiggle the door handle, others might try and push against the door a few seconds before quitting. Now imagine this happens every day, all day, all night, 365 days a year. Weirded out? That’s the Internet.
What is a firewall?
Think of a firewall as that locked door to your house. It’s meant to allow you to leave whenever you want, but only allow guests you approve of to come inside. A firewall is simply a way to protect your home’s network from the constant knocking of strangers who hope to find a way into your home electronically. It is not a physical barrier. Instead, it is a software solution that works off a set of rules. If a rule allows the connection into your home network, it is good to go. If a rule denies that connection, it is prevented.
Firewalls are generally something you do not have to think about. They come embedded into most home router solutions you can buy from the store, and most of the time they are turned on automatically so you do not even have to worry about them. Because of this, the concept of that “locked door” is something many families never put thought into though it is a critical component of household Internet safety.
What are your rules?
Many times, it seems commercial solutions for the home set rules that automatically deny all unsolicited incoming connections. Meaning, if a device on your home network didn’t start the connection, it will be denied. Alternatively, they are set to allow all outgoing connections so your devices work as they are supposed to.
While it would be absolutely impossible to direct you how to view your firewall rules with the number of home router models out there, you can generally get to them by connecting to your router from a browser. Most default setups will allow you to reach your router by typing something like https://192.168.0.1 into a browser and logging in. Yours may differ, so you might need to review some documentation to see how to login. If you’ve never updated your login information for your router, you should definitely do that.
Summary
It’s a good idea to be familiar with what your firewall rule settings are so you can ensure your home network is protected. Also, it allows you to troubleshoot any issues if they come up with your home devices. You may have heard how important it is to protect your WiFi access with a password, but it’s also important to have good firewall settings.