Firewall

Firewall is hardware and/or software means to filter network traffic, protecting computer network from unauthorized access. The main idea of firewall is defining rules to explicitly allow or disallow what internal resources can be accessed from what external addresses. Firewall is installed on gateway between local area network and the Internet, or on the gateway interconnecting two (or more) subnetworks. It is task of network administrator to set up proper firewall rules.

Glossary