Your Home Router Is Your Firewall Protection

Does your home computer need a firewall? The answer is certainly yes. But before we explain why, first let’s make sure everyone knows what we’re talking about.

A firewall is a security system that monitors all incoming and outgoing traffic that goes back and forth between your home computer and the internet. Your firewall protects you from all the bad stuff out there – viruses, malware, unwanted intrusions and more.

There are basically two types of firewalls – hardware and software. Your home computer’s router itself serves as a hardware firewall. If you are running Windows, that platform comes with a software firewall. You might also install a third-party firewall.

So if your router is serving as a hardware firewall for your home, is that all you need? It may be, but most experts agree that employing both hardware and software firewall protection is the only way to ensure you have maximum safety.

If you have multiple computers in your home, your home router uses something called network address translation (NAT) to share a single IP address from your internet service provider. This serves all the devices that are hooked up to the internet in your house.

When data or incoming traffic from the Internet reaches your router, it does not know which computer to send it to, so it simply eliminates the data. That, in short, is how the NAT itself acts as a firewall. Your router may also be able to block certain specific types of traffic that goes back out of your system if you configure your router’s settings to do so.

Again, with your router serving as a hardware firewall for your home, you may be effectively protected from outside problems. And most likely, your Windows or other OS platform automatically comes with its own software firewall. So with home router and software, you’re good to go.