Advantages of Host Based Firewalls

Host-based firewalls have the following advantages:
• They can be used to enhance your security.
• Some can provide host-based authentication.
• Their cost is typically less than $100—and sometimes they even are free.
Typically, host-based firewalls are used to enhance the security of a device and typically are used as just one component in a firewall system. Other firewall solutions also are used, but the host-based software provides an additional layer of protection for critical resources. You never should assume that by having a main firewall between your internal devices and the network that you are now completely safe. Remember that 60 to 70 percent of attacks come from within your network. Therefore, for select resources, installing this software on critical resources provides a higher level of security.
With some host-based firewall products, user authentication is built in, allowing authentication of users before they can access resources. One advantage that this provides is that if you don't have an AGF, you can still perform user authentication at the host level.
In small networks, such as SOHO environments, purchasing one of the other firewalls from the categories that I mentioned might be cost-prohibitive. Many SOHO packet-filtering and stateful firewalls exist in the $150 to $500 range, but for a small company just beginning, it is cheaper to load a freeware host-based firewall. This is typically true for the home user who needs to protect his PC from only the casual Internet hacker.
Continue reading here: Figure 223 Security Level Example
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