It’s common knowledge that every site needs to have protection. Similar to your personal computer, online servers can be victims of attacks. Hackers need to be kept far away and this is where firewalls help.
A firewall is in fact a protective barrier between your computer and the virtual world.
Malicious software can create enormous damage to your personal server and this is why it’s an absolute must to properly protect your WordPress site. Setting up a firewall should be the first thing you need to do.
What is a firewall?
Every time you visit a site, you get connected to a computer, or in short, its web server. In turn the server is another type of computer and is also subject to online attacks.
When connecting to another device, make sure there is always some type of protection. It’s very easy to launch a DDoS attack or plant a malware once a connection is made between the devices.
This is where the firewall comes in.
How does it work?
Firewalls follow closely all incoming and outgoing traffic on a device, and scanning for any type of malicious activity. If it comes across something out of the ordinary, it will block it from going further.
In what cases do you need a firewall?
You might be asking yourself: Do I really need a firewall?
Any machine connecting to the internet is required to have a firewall. This includes your phone, web server, loT devices, or any other devices that can use the web.
A device that is not protected is an easy target for hackers and infections.
This could provide hackers the opportunity to take over your computer, get access to your banking and card information, look through your camera and listen to your phone.
If a hacker manages to get though to your server, they could gain full control over site, change the admin credentials, add a malware which could infect your visitors, or even take down your website.
If you don’t have a firewall, all of your personal devices can be vulnerable to DDoS attacks, which could bring your internet and website down.
Here is what a firewall protects you against:
Malware: Infiltrators can send malicious malware to infect your server. It can steal personal details, damage your computer and even spread it to other users.
Intrusions: Firewalls stop other users from accessing your server or computer and taking it over.
DDoS attacks: Firewalls can detect the influx of fake traffic generated during a DDoS attack.
Different types of firewall
Each type of firewall is made for different situations. Some are great for single computers, and other more for network-wide filtering.
- Hardware/Software Firewall
- Personal Firewall
- Packet Filtering Firewall
- Web Application Firewall
- Stateful Firewall
- Next-Generation Firewall
Each one works in a different way and block a specific type of traffic.
In short, the types of firewalls you would most likely use, unless you have your own server stack, are personal, software and web application firewalls.
They are the most important types.
How to get a firewall?
In order to keep hackers at bay, you would need a high-quality firewall to protect your website. Concerning Personal firewalls, it’s a lot easier to get one. Windows has a built-in one that does not need any additional configuration. Including the app firewall which comes with the antivirus software as well as the packet filter on your router, this is usually more than enough to protect your computer.
Make sure to activate your firewall, install a quality antivirus and properly configure your router. The same applies for macOS users.
What if your site needs protection?
The situation would be very different. It’s often the case that you need to secure the site yourself, as there are not as many built-in tools. With WordPress, there is no firewall available or additional protection for your servers.
WordPress developers try to maintain the code optimized, but in cases when there are vulnerabilities, there is nothing to prevent intrusions.
As well as installing a firewall, you need a web host which takes care of your servers properly. A lot of cheap hosts ignore security which can cause you tremendous damage.
Fixed.net offers fast, reliable and fully managed web hosting, inclusive of all our site maintenance plans. We manually optimise the hosting for each website, and provide the cPanel control panel so you can self-manage.
Conclusion
On most modern personal computers, there is nothing much you need to do, as the firewall is pre-installed with most operating systems. When it comes to your website, it’s your top priority and responsibility to protect yourself.
If you are looking for hosting which can provide reliable security, as well as great support, you should consider Fixed.net. We guarantee your site will not fall victim to hacking. In the rare case that this does happen, we’ll take the necessary steps to remove the malware.
Even if your hosting service is already reliable enough, it’s good to install a web app firewall just in case. You can simply download a WP security plugin and you would be good to go.
