Although modern technology currently moves forward at a more rapid pace than ever before, there are still plenty of legacy solutions and symbols that are resilient enough to stand the test of time. Like digital equivalents of living fossils, they have managed to survive the disruptive effect of technological innovation and still thrive in highly modern IT-environments.
In this series, we will take a closer look at some legacy icons that are still present in our modern times. In this article we’re going to focus on the firewall, a standard aspect of modern IT security. What does this well-known and trusted security tool owe its name too?
Inspired by the construction industry
Technologically speaking, firewalls are not all that spectacular. So how does something that is relatively dull to many people get such a spectacular name? To find the answer to this question, we have to take a look at the construction industry. Long before IT and IT security rose to the scene and the internet became a practical reality, firewalls were already in use to protect buildings and the people in them.
A physical firewall is a specially toughened, flameproof barrier designed to limit or stop the spread of a fire, minimizing damage and giving people the opportunity to make a timely escape from the smoke and scorching flames. Firewalls are typically built into larger structures (terraced houses, office blocks) and can withstand temperatures in excess of 400 degrees Celsius.
The role of computer firewalls
If you draw an analogy between the physical and virtual realm, computer firewalls fulfill roughly the same role as their real-world counterparts. The firewall acts like a barrier, preventing hackers and malicious web traffic from spreading from one network to another. The main difference between a physical and virtual firewall is that the latter can actually learn and identify threats. The physical firewall is merely a dumb slab of concrete that has the ability to withstand heat and flames.
Legacy and next-generation firewalls
In the digital world we have legacy and next-generation firewalls. Legacy firewalls are traditional firewalls that use packet filtering to block or allow network traffic based on predefined rules. These rules are based on the source and destination IP address, port number, and protocol type. Legacy firewalls can be bad news because they are often not up to the newest security challenges anymore.
Next-generation firewalls are much more advanced and provide more robust and intricate security features (application identification, intrusion prevention, advanced threat protection) than legacy firewalls. Funny if you think that these highly modern security tools are named after a physical construction that was already used decades ago…
