Network security technologies protect your network against the theft and misuse of confidential business information and guards against malicious attacks from Internet-borne viruses and worms.

Firewalls are generally categorized as network-based or host-based. Network-based firewalls are positioned on the gateway computers of LANs, WANs and intranets. They are either software appliances running on general-purpose hardware, or hardware-based firewall computer appliances. Firewall appliances may also offer other functionality to the internal network they protect, such as acting as a DHCP or VPN server for that network. Host-based firewalls are positioned on the network node itself and control network traffic in and out of those machines. The host-based firewall may be a daemon or service as a part of the operating system or an agent application such as endpoint security or protection. Each has advantages and disadvantages. However, each has a role in layered security. Firewalls also vary in type depending on where communication originates, where it is intercepted, and the state of communication being traced.