Firewall and VPN

A dedicated firewall is the first line of defense when it comes to cybersecurity, intended to prevent unauthorized intrusion by providing a guarded perimeter between the internet and your computer or IT network.

Although Linux has a firewall built right into the kernel itself, it isn’t always the easiest to use, especially for new users to Linux, even when there are several graphical utilities that can help you manage it. Additionally, even if you can get that set up fine for your Linux desktop, the firewall's protection is limited only to that and nothing else on your WiFi or IT network.

If you looking for a firewall for your network, while working with a limited budget, here are some of the options that can choose from:

IPFire is a Linux-based stateful firewall distro which can be deployed on a wide variety of hardware. The installation process allows you to configure your network into different security segments, with each segment being color-coded. The green segment is a safe area representing all normal clients connected to the local wired network. The red segment represents the internet. No traffic can pass from red to any other segment unless you have specifically configured it that way in the firewall. Besides its firewalling features, IPFire also has intrusion detection and prevention capabilities, and can also be used to offer VPN facilities. The distro can also be fleshed out using a handy set of add-ons to give it additional functionalities.

OPNSense is another option, which is a security oriented version of FreeBSD. The firewall distro is designed to serve as a firewall and routing platform and besides filtering traffic can also be used to display a captive portal, shape traffic, detect and prevent intrusions, as well as setup a Virtual Private Network (VPN), and lots more. OPNsense implements a stateful firewall and enables users to group firewall rules by category, which according to its website, is a handy feature for more demanding network setups. The firewall uses an Inline Intrusion Prevention System. This is a powerful form of deep packet inspection whereby instead of merely blocking an IP address or port, OPNsense can inspect individual data packets or connections and stop them before they reach the sender if necessary.

pfSense describes itself as the most trusted open source firewall. The original FreeBSD-based firewall distro, pfSense shares many similarities with OPNsense. For instance, in addition to being a powerful, flexible firewalling and routing platform, it includes a long list of related features. To begin with, just like with OPNsense, you can use pfSense to deploy an intrusion prevention system as well as enable VPN access. Also, you can manage pfSense entirely via an intuitive web interface. Unlike most of its peers though, pfSense is available as a hardware device, virtual appliance, and downloadable community edition.

ClearOS is a CentOS-based distro that’s designed as a full featured replacement to commercial server distros like Red Hat Enterprise Server or Windows Small Business Server. There are several editions of ClearOS including a community-supported edition that is offered as a no-cost free download. The best thing about ClearOS is its ease of deployment. As most firewall distros are written for the stereotypical geek, it's nice to see a refreshing change in what seems to have become the de facto standard of 'cobble it together and think about the interface afterwards'. Once installed, you can administer your ClearOS-powered firewall from a web-based management interface. The administration interface is intuitive to use, and will not only help you configure and monitor your firewall, but can also be used to flesh out the distro for several other network services with a few clicks.

While the choice of the right firewall depends on the features it provides, we leave it to the user's choice on what they wish to go with. If you need fruther help then please fill out the form below and one of our respresentatives will help you make the right decision.