VPN vs. Firewall vs. Antivirus Security Considerations

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ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall to bezpłatny pakiet zabezpieczający komputer przed wirusami i innymi zagrożeniami z sieci. W jego skład wchodzi zaawansowany moduł antywirusowy, dwie zapory ogniowe oraz kilka innych narzędzi wspomagających ochronę systemu operacyjnego.

Program nie zabiera zbyt dużo zasobów systemowych i w dodatku jest lekki, szybki i niezwykle prosty w obsłudze. Wbudowany moduł antywirusowy wykrywa, blokuje i błyskawicznie usuwa wirusy, aplikacje szpiegowskie, konie trojańskie, robaki, boty i rootkity. Oprócz tego zapobiega infekcji wirusa na poziomie jądra systemowego (kernel) oraz posiada możliwość przeprowadzenia dokładnej analizy behawioralnej, w celu wykrycia różnych szkodników na komputerze.

Na szczególną uwagę zasługują dwie wbudowane zapory ogniowe – Advanced Firewall oraz Two-Way Firewall. Pierwsza z nich monitoruje wszystkie podejrzane aplikacje instalowane na dysku twardym i zatrzymuje wszystkie ataki i infekcje, które zostają omijane przez wbudowaną ochronę antywirusową. Druga zapora ogniowa również zapewnia skuteczną ochronę systemu i zwiększa bezpieczeństwo podczas korzystania z Internetu. Zatrzymuje włamania i różne ataki z sieci, a dzięki włączonej funkcji Stealth Mode, stajemy się niewidzialni dla hakerów.

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall został wyposażony w moduł Anti-Phising, który chroni przed fałszywymi wiadomości otrzymywanymi drogą elektroniczną e-mail. Poza tym pakiet ZoneAlarm zapewnia też dodatkowe bezpieczeństwo podczas pobierania różnych plików i programów z internetu. W razie wykrycia zagrożenia, informuje o tym użytkownika.

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Best Free Firewalls for 2022

If you have a wifi router, you likely already have a measure of protection from intrusion in the form of a built-in hardware firewall. Additionally, you may have a software firewall built into your operating system, such as Windows Defender for Windows users. According to the AV Test Security Report 2017/2018, Windows is by far the most attacked operating system, so built-in protection makes sense.

However, these firewalls aren’t perfect and you may find yourself in need of extra protection. And it’s not just Windows users who should be concerned. No operating system is immune to attack, so no one should be complacent about the vulnerability of their internet-connected devices.

TIP: Good antivirus software will include a firewall as part of a wider range of security features. Take a look at our round ups of the best overall antivirus and best antivirus software for Mac.

Installing antivirus software as well as an additional firewall is your best chance of keeping your equipment malware-free. Thankfully, you don’t have to break the bank when it comes to third-party software, or even pay a penny. We’ll cover each firewall in detail, but if you’re just looking for a quick list, these are the best free firewalls:

Sophos XG Firewall Home Edition ZoneAlarm Free Firewall AVS Firewall Comodo Free Firewall TinyWall Outpost Firewall GlassWire Privatefirewall OpenDNS Home

The following sections will explain what each of these has to offer:

The Best Free Firewalls of 2021

You don’t need to pay for a top-quality firewall because some of the leading cybersecurity companies produce free software that will protect your computer.

Here’s our list of the best free firewalls for 2021:

Sophos is a rising star in the cybersecurity industry and its excellent business protection software is also available for home use. This security system is unusually advanced compared to the standard firewall software. It isn’t just a computer security system, it is a network security system.

Given that most homes now run multi-user wifi networks, the Sophos approach to whole home cybersecurity coverage is a concept that is long overdue. Essentially, you get all of the system protection controls that you would for a business, but for your home network.

That being said, there is a major infrastructure requirement of this free firewall that may put you off. Sophos XG has its own operating system (OS) and when you install it on a computer, it wipes out the existing OS and all software installed on that device. You won’t even be able to reinstall your Windows-compatible software once the Sophos XG OS is running. The host computer needs to have four cores and 6 GB of RAM.

If you have a spare computer, then this firewall option is light years ahead of the competition. It includes anti-malware, and gives you web security, connection privacy, and URL filtering. Within the network, you get application control, an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and traffic-shaping features. The console includes a network monitoring and reporting dashboard, providing all the system management facilities that large companies enjoy on their networks.

Download Sophos XG Firewall Home Edition

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall installs on Windows 7, 8, 9, and 10. This system has some great extras, which makes it a good choice for home wifi networks and laptops that connect to the internet in public places. All you need to install it is an internet connection for the download and an email address for the activation.

The firewall includes a “stealth mode” which protects your connections from hackers, includes identity protection services, and blocks malware. If you are in the US, you can call on the company for victim recovery assistance in the case of identity theft.

The software will add an extra layer of protection to your connections when you connect to public wifi hotspots and it assesses the security of your home wifi network to improve protection from attacks. It updates itself automatically, so you benefit from an up-to-date threat protection database.

Download ZoneAlarm Free Firewall

The AVS brand is owned by Online Media Technologies Ltd. However, the company doesn’t make its firewall software easy to find on its website. Alternatively, you can download it from Tucows or Softpedia among other free software distribution sites. This firewall runs on all versions of Windows from XP to Windows 10.

The firewall will block incoming connection requests and it includes other security measures. These include the ability to select which applications on your computer are allowed to connect to the internet and a security level feature. The software monitors activity in the registry and blocks alterations. This is a very important protection measure against worms and persistent malware.

The AVS Firewall provides surfing protection as well as system security. These measures include an ad and popup blocker and parental controls. You can allocate bandwidth usage limits to devices, applications, or programs.

Download AVS Firewall

Comodo is an award-winning cybersecurity software house that produces a firewall for all versions of Windows from XP through to Windows 10. The paid firewall has a free alternative, which the company claims is the world’s #1 free firewall.

As well as blocking incoming connections, this software package will monitor your computer for ongoing threats, with a constantly updated threat database. The monitor alerts you in real-time to detected risks. You get a Sandbox environment for any new software you download to protect from hidden viruses. The system uses AI to build up a profile of normal operating behavior on your computer so that it can block suspicious activity. You can choose to block specific applications from accessing the internet while the software monitors all outgoing traffic as well as inbound data.

Other features include a browser cleanup utility and a games mode to enable interactive applications to operate over the internet.

Download Comodo Free Firewall

The developer of TinyWall, Károly Pados, came up with the clever idea of producing an enhancement for the native Windows firewall, Windows Defender. So, unsurprisingly, this utility is only available for Windows.

The ethos behind the development of TinyWall is that it should be unobtrusive. The program runs all the time and shows as an icon in the system tray. You click on the icon to view the popup menu of the system. This means that threat information is available on demand. The good point about that is that you won’t get your computer frozen by an overlay when you are in the middle of something. However, on the downside, threat alerts are easy to ignore, which is a risk.

As a free utility that’s meant to be lightweight (it only takes up 1 MB of space on your hard drive), this firewall doesn’t have many features. You can whitelist applications to prevent your important programs from being blocked, but that’s about it.

Download TinyWall

The maker of Outpost, Agnitum Ltd, was sold to Yandex, the Russian Google, in 2017 and at that point shut down its own website. You can’t get this firewall directly from the company anymore, but it is available from software distribution sites, such as Filehippo and Softonic.

You might wonder why a seemingly abandoned firewall is on this list. It’s here because it deserves to be. Agnitum licensed its firewall to other security companies, so this is actually the firewall that you get from other big name cybersecurity providers, including Sophos. Although the paid Outpost Firewall Pro is no longer supported, the free firewall is still going strong.

Features of this excellent security utility include automatic whitelisting for well-known software, an anti-leak module that blocks suspicious outgoing messages, a file and folder lock, and an ad and popup blocker for web surfers.

Download Outpost Firewall

GlassWire is network monitoring software as well as a firewall, and it’s free to use. This package installs on Windows 7, 8, and 10. Although this software would be ideal for a small business network, it’s also marketed for home use. The firewall can be set up with several profiles so it behaves differently in each given scenario. For example, you can have a home network setting and a public wifi profile.

As well as blocking incoming connections, the suite enables you to monitor bandwidth usage, throttling some apps to make more bandwidth available to key applications. The traffic management functions go down to port number, program, and process.

The monitor is always on and it tracks all activity on your computer, looking for suspicious anything suspicious. Like TinyWall, the firewall functions of GlassWire are actually just a management interface to the native Windows Defender.

Download GlassWire

Privatefirewall is a product of Privacyware. The company’s feature product is ThreatSentry, a security system designed for business networks. The company is not so interested in Privatefirewall anymore and it doesn’t even mention the product on its own website. However, you can download it for free from software distributors, such as CNet, and Softpedia. The program will run on Windows from XP up to 8.1 – there isn’t a version for Windows 10.

As well as being a firewall, this utility is a host-based intrusion detection system. It examines the log files on your computer to look for worrying events. It will also protect those log files from unauthorized alteration or deletion, which is a track-covering trick that some malware uses.

The regular firewall features of this suite include whitelisting and blacklisting functions, as well as content privacy controls such as text copy shutdown and clipboard monitoring. The interface for the firewall is a popup context menu that you activate by right-clicking on the program icon in the system tray.

The tool will also monitor email activity, disable infected or banned websites from loading, and block internet activity from a specified address.

Download Privatefirewall

OpenDNS is a business network security system that also has a free Home edition. This firewall covers all of the internet-active devices in your home, including DVRs and smart TVs, computers, tablets, and smartphones. It’s a great choice for families because it includes parental controls.

This system is cloud-based, so you don’t have to install any software. Instead, the service changes your router settings to channel all of your internet traffic through the OpenDNS server. This is what the industry calls an “edge service” and it will also protect you from other hacker actions, such as DDoS attacks.

Sign up for OpenDNS Home

Do I need a third-party firewall?

Businesses religiously install firewalls to protect their resources from attack (see Best Web Application Firewalls), but the general public has become less interested in this form of protection. A big reason for this complacency is that protection is often built in to devices.

At home, wifi routers offer protection against attack from the internet in the form of a hardware firewall. However, the advent of Trojans means that this incoming connection request block is no longer enough; Trojans will open up outgoing connections back to base and invite in other viruses.

Popular operating systems often come with their own software firewall, such as Windows Defender in newer versions of Windows. However, this is a rudimentary firewall that could do with a lot more options, which you get with third-party firewalls.

Note that if you do have firewalls built in to your router or operating system, you need to make sure they’re enabled. A disabled firewall is as useless as not having one at all.

Image: Firewall graphic from Pixabay. Public domain.

VPN vs. Firewall vs. Antivirus Security Considerations

In an age where many people’s work takes place online, it’s important to have strong protection against malicious forces attempting to gain access to your business’s information. Virtual private networks (VPNs) can help your business gain this protection, but a VPN may not be enough on its own. Firewalls, antivirus software, and other security devices can work with one another and your VPN to bring you maximum security for your business’s online activities. If you’re exploring VPNs, firewalls, and antivirus software for your business, or are just curious about how these important security measures work, here’s what you should know.

What is a VPN?

A VPN, or virtual private network, hides your IP address by routing your network connection through a remote server, shielding you from attempts to obtain your data or location, even while you use public Wi-Fi. This makes it a secure, beneficial choice for companies whose employees work from home or a remote location.

“It is advisable to [run] a VPN for corporate services when public Wi-Fi is used or for businesses with many remote workers,” said Andrius Ulenskas, technical director at Hyve Managed Hosting.

By routing your connection to a remote server, internet service providers, government websites and websites you frequent won’t have any way of knowing your true location. They’ll only see the IP address that the VPN provides. The VPN also creates a secure tunnel, encrypting your data and rendering it unreadable to anyone else who attempts to access it.

A VPN can’t protect your computer from any viruses or malware. However, it can keep your location and data secure from hackers so they can’t use your personally identifiable information for fraudulent activities.

“If a business is afraid of ISPs snooping on its traffic, a third-party VPN service is good for that,” said Jerry Chen, CEO of Firewalla. “If a business worries about employees working from home and needing access to the business data, a simple remote access VPN server … is completely free.”

When you use a VPN provider, your network connection may be accessible from multiple servers across the world. You’ll want to choose your connectivity based on your location. VPNs also bypass geo-restrictions, meaning you can route your VPN through another country in order to view websites that may be inaccessible in your own country.

What is a firewall?

A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic, through either a hardware device or software you install on your computer. It is essentially protection between your computer’s internal network and any external networks, such as the internet. A firewall stops malicious or unauthorized users from accessing your computer when it’s connected to the internet. It does this by creating data pockets that restrict these users based on your security preferences.

You can set up your firewall to block websites and online services of your choice, or add firewall exceptions to websites you want to have access to your internal network. For example, you may allow certain programs to run on your computer that otherwise wouldn’t with the firewall in place.

A firewall provides your computer with strong protection, but it can’t tell whether something is malicious unless it’s programmed to see and block that specific item. For instance, your firewall won’t block any website that it’s not programmed to block, even if the site may have malicious content and be detrimental to your system.

Most computers come with firewalls already installed and only require a short setup process by the user upon initial configuration. However, you might want to install a different firewall with a better interface and more protective capabilities.

What is antivirus software?

Antivirus software is installed on your computer to detect, analyze, and remove malicious software (malware) and viruses, including worms, Trojan horses, and ransomware. Hackers and cybercriminals use malware to infiltrate a computer’s network to steal information, damage devices or participate in identity theft. Antivirus software can stop these attacks.

Antivirus software scans all the data that comes in contact with your computer, including webpages, software, downloaded files, and applications, all while monitoring for suspicious activity. If the software identifies a known malware program, it can stop the malware from doing additional damage and remove it from your computer.

Cybercriminals constantly update and create malware, so you need to update your computer’s antivirus software regularly to keep up with the latest protection. Some computers can be set to update these programs automatically. The term “anti-malware software” is often used interchangeably with “antivirus software,” as they refer to the same program capabilities.

VPNs vs. firewalls

Here are some specific differences between VPNs and firewalls:

VPNs keep your location and private data, such as financial information and passwords, secure from others attempting to obtain that information. However, they do not completely protect your internal network from malware.

Firewalls prevent malicious attacks by allowing you to set your security preferences and what you allow to enter your computer.

VPNs can only protect the data from where the network connection was created or in the VPN tunnel. They do not protect your computer.

You can’t set up security rules on VPNs, as you don’t have the authority to establish any packet or network restrictions from your own computer.

While VPNs allow you to bypass geo-restrictions, firewalls can only create restrictions that you have access to on your computer.

Companies usually use VPNs to allow their employees to enter their remote servers securely from other locations. Firewalls are used by both personal and corporate clients to protect computers from malicious software.

“VPNs don’t guard against attacks on the company’s public-facing servers,” said Eric Mintz, CEO of EM Squared. “Public-facing firewalls do that.”

VPNs vs. antivirus

Here’s how VPNs and antivirus software stack up against each other:

VPNs allow you to remain anonymous on the internet and keep your location and online activities from being monitored.

Antivirus programs are constantly scanning your computer for malicious software to remove it from your system.

VPNs can restrict others from seeing your data by encrypting it. However, VPNs can’t detect if you’re clicking on malware that could harm your computer. Antivirus programs can remove this malware as soon as they detect it.

Antivirus programs can’t bypass geo-restrictions or encrypt online traffic as VPNs can.

Antivirus vs. firewalls

Here are some specific differences between antivirus software and firewalls:

Antivirus programs scan your device to ensure no malicious software is attempting to access your data.

Firewalls use your preferences to block access to certain sites and limit the data that a website, program or software can obtain.

Firewalls focus on blocking websites that you or the firewall company have labeled as malicious in the software. Antivirus software focuses on identifying and removing all malware after it has scanned your computer, so you need to update it constantly in order to keep up the protection against the latest malware.

“Antivirus protects the business’s operating system,” Chen said. “If used correctly, it can be used to prevent hackers exploiting a personal computer and cause data leakage or other types of threats. This is needed in conjunction with the firewall.”

Should you use all three?

There are many benefits to using a VPN, firewall and antivirus software together on your company computers, as their capabilities complement one another.

“Firewall and antivirus software should always be regarded as supplementary to a VPN service,” said Pablo Listingart, founder and owner of ComIT. “They are by no means an adequate substitute for VPN safety.”

It’s best to have a properly configured firewall with an intuitive interface that allows you to choose which websites to block or allow on your internal network. Add a strong antivirus program that can identify and remove all malware from your computer, and then get a reliable VPN that allows you to access remote servers with no fear of being monitored.

Technology solutions can’t do the job alone, though. Your whole team needs to knowledgeable and vigilant about cybersecurity, especially when they work remotely.

“Businesses need to see security as a layered solution, and ultimately, businesses need to have proper training for the employees,” Chen said. “Most hacks start with people clicking on the wrong thing. We always tell our people to ‘think before you click.'”

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