What If a Firewall Was a Protective Penguin Colony?

Imagine you're in the frigid Antarctic. Hundreds of penguins are huddled together for warmth. Howling winds warn of the dangers of the outside world.

That's the last thing we need - danger invading our precious little penguin babies.

What if your network was the same way?

What if your network had ways to allow good information in and keep bad information out?

This is the introduction to the concept of a firewall.

What if a firewall was a protective penguin colony?

Let us delve deeper into how exactly the protective penguin colony analogy applies to your network.

A Penguin Colony is Comparable To a Protected Network.

Penguins often find themselves grouped together to avoid the dangers of the cold and to ward off would-be predators.

A computer network can do this by uniting devices to share information on the network.

However, with sharing of information comes the danger of getting unwanted information.

Just as an unprotected penguin colony can run into problems with predators, a network can run into issues with unwanted guests trying to get information from within.

Hence the problem of network protection arises.

A firewall is used to help keep a network, and by extension, all of the devices that are connected to it safe.

What else do a penguin colony and a firewall have in common?

Much like the friendly penguins wanting to get into the exclusive colony, unwanted connections can get through without proper checks.

What Happens if a Penguin Wants to Get Into the Colony?

What if there was a group of penguins that patrolled the borders of the colony.

Whenever a new penguin comes visiting, they are frisked.

Friendly guests are welcomed into the colony, but if a penguin seemed sketchy, they are turned away before they can get too close and threaten the colony.

Believe it or not, it's actually kind of similar to a firewall.

A firewall looks at the information on either side of the network connection and uses specific set of rules to determine whether or not that information gets through to the other side.

By having a firewall, a network can restrict access based on the rules it is given.

For instance, a firewall can examine an incoming network request (for example, when a user tries to connect to a server) and it can use the information of that request (such as source, destination, type of connection, etc) to decide if the request should be allowed through or denied.

It acts almost like a security guard for your network.

How does it know when something seems sketchy

In the wild, penguins have to be able to watch out for predators - afterall, they represent a food source for big animals like orcas and polar bears.

Computer networks and their cyber security have similar issues to deal with. Unauthorized access attempts on the network can take many forms. Hackers could try to probe servers to find weaknesses or viruses may replicate themselves through network ports to spread themselves to other computers. Even normal programs, if tampered with, can be an entry point to a network through backdoors or by serving information that would otherwise be private.

This is where the firewall comes in handy again.

By restricting these connections, a firewall is able to keep the network safe.

Depending on what kind of firewall it is, sometimes even more analysis can be done to determine if the connection is legitimate.

Just as the security guard analogy previously mentioned, a firewall can also scan what each connection that tries to get through is doing as well.

However, while a firewall is great at keeping out network threats, it can't stop everything - such as users that manually install malware or trojan horses.

Another issue a firewall may run into is its' own capabilities and limitations.

A firewall can protect a network from outside threats, but unless the software itself is configured correctly, the protections it offers can be weakened - or even completely negated.

Different Roles for Different Penguins

A defensive penguin colony has many uses, depending on where it is located, how it is monitored and who patrols it.

Firewalls also have slightly different roles depending on what kind of firewall it is.

There are network, host-based and cloud-based firewalls.

Each one helps keep the network safe, but what they do exactly differs slightly - much like a penguin colony. The network firewall is used to keep traffic between networks safe. Host-based firewalls, on the other hand, are used to protect individual computers or servers. Cloud firewalls, meanwhile, are used to protect resources in the cloud.

Although they may perform slightly different jobs, together they can keep your network safe and sound.

What If the Colony is Not Watched?

In the wild, an unpreparing penguin colony can be taken advantage of by cunning orcs and other predators that want to eat the unsuspecting penguins. A similar thing can happen if there isn't a firewall to keep a network safe. For example, an improperly configured firewall could allow attackers to probe open services that are running on a given machine.

By properly configuring the firewall (or other network access restriction tools), these threats can be mitigated.

With that said, any firewall protection has to be monitored as well. Just having it there is not enough.

Even the best passwords and access control methods will be rendered useless if there are exploits present that allow outsiders to freely access valuable information without going through the usual security measures. By turning off unneeded services and making sure that everyone is using the latest software with security fixes, one can ensure that the network is as protected as possible.

Can a Firewall Keep Everything Out?

This is where our beloved penguin colony analogy runs out of steam.

No, even if a group of penguins are keeping watch, the colony can not prevent every kind of predator from getting into the nest. Firewalls are similar in that aspect. A firewall can help ensure that only good information is getting through, but it's not foolproof.

While a good firewall can keep most unwanted traffic out, users may still fall victim to phishing attempts or malware infection if they visit a malicious website or open a suspicious email.

This is also why having multiple protections are important as well. This includes things like strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, malware scanners, regular software updates to address security issues, and more.

While a good firewall can go a long way in protecting a network, it is not the sole protector - it is just one tool amongst many that can be used.

Final Thoughts

At first glance, a penguin colony and a firewall seem to have nothing in common.

One is practically in the middle of nowhere, while the other is within the computers themselves.

Despite the differences, the main purpose - protection - is much more important.

While protecting ourselves against the harsh Antarctic cold seems trivial compared to defending a network against would-be hijackers, the concept of protection transcends into our digital lives. Just as a defensive colony can protect themselves in the wild, a firewall offers protection by only allowing known-safe information access to a network.

In fact next time someone mentions a firewall to you, just think about how amazing it'd be to have a colony of penguins to keep you safe in the harshest conditions around.