The principle purpose of a firewall is to intelligently bar unrequested connections that intend to get into the network. For instance, a user’s laptop connected to an organizations domain can access shared files and folders on the network. However, if the laptop does not have the domain configurations, the firewall bars any incoming connections to the organization’s network from the laptop. Such a feature for the firewall helps to safeguard the network from potential malicious incoming traffic.
Windows Firewall plus other third-party firewalls perform the same principle function of barring unauthorized incoming connections. Third-party firewalls, in the course of their activities, pop once in a while requesting for user input in order to complete certain processes. Good example is Norton that is one of the leading third party firewall providers. Windows firewall, on the other hand, completes processes intelligently in the background without asking for user input. Windows firewall has default setting configured to perform the most basic tasks, in this case, barring unwanted incoming traffic in the network. Interestingly, Windows firewall possesses advanced capabilities. However, the features are quite intricate and are hidden from normal users. On the contrary, third-party firewalls have a friendlier user interfaces that simplify the most difficult capabilities. Though they may require user input at some point, the rest of the process proceeds automatically. As such, the third-party firewalls make management control easier by defining a set of programs that should have access to the internet.
All-in-all, most people prefer third party firewalls since they provide a set of advantages for normal users. They also provide a view of current statistics and logs of firewall activities. Other users prefer using Windows firewalls as everything plays out behind the scene.
Windows Firewall in Windows Server 2012
- IKEv2 for IPsec transport mode
Windows Server 2012 offers extensive support the Internet Key Exchange v2 protocol. As such, it makes the Internet Key v2 Protocol available as a protocol for VPN tunneling that automatically enables VPN reconnection. IKEv2 support in Windows Server 2012 also incorporates the interoperability functionality between Windows and other operating systems. The feature makes use of IKEv2 to maintain end-to-end security. Essentially, there has been extended support for IKEv2 in Windows Server 2012.
- Windows Store app network isolation
The new feature gives more control to administrators to enable them configure Windows Firewall according to their preferences, and this allows them to achieve more control over the Windows Store application programs. For instance, the new feature enables the confinement of network boundaries for access control of the software applications in an effort to protect the most vulnerable applications. As such, administrators can isolate applications to safeguard them from malicious attacks. Additionally, the administrators can also maintain firewall rules to manage and control the various applications and their capabilities.
References
Hoffman, C. (2014). Why You Don’t Need to Install a Third-Party Firewall (And When You Do). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.howtogeek.com/165203/why-you-dont-need-to-install-a-third-party-firewall-and-when-you-do/
Stewart, J. (2011). Network security, firewalls, and VPNs. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Windows Firewall with Advanced Security Overview. (2012). Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831365.aspx
