Firewall Design and Implementation

Abstract

The chapter introduces firewalls and their design as the first line of defense mechanism. This chapter's goal is twofold: (i) to cover major aspects of the firewall design and operation for security professional education and (ii) explain how artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques and technologies are employed for enhancing firewalls and the security they provide. For the first goal, it provides the firewall definition, discusses the functions, possible architectures, and operational models concentrating on the presentation of their advantages and drawbacks. It includes the step‐by‐step guide to the firewall design and implementation process ranging from planning to deployment and maintenance. For the second goal, the chapter moves the reader from basic rules design to sophisticated AI and ML employment algorithms that improve it. The major emphasis is placed on using rules to set up, configure, and modify the firewall's policy. Both generic and specific rules are discussed as well as their formulation and editing with firewall tools. Substantial rules design principles and conflict avoidance and resolution are presented. The modern AI‐based developments are presented at the end.