CompTIA Security+™: Review Guide, Second Edition

1.1 Explain the security function and purpose of network devices and technologies

Network devices are present in a network infrastructure for a variety of reasons. These include traffic management, network segmentation, and network security. In this section, I explore several security functions and purposes of network devices and technologies.

Firewalls

A firewall is a hardware or software component designed to protect one network from another (see Figure 1.1). Firewalls are deployed between areas of high and low trust, like a private network and a public network (such as the Internet), or between two networks that belong to the same organization but are from different departments. Firewalls provide protection by controlling traffic entering ...