Comparison of firewalls
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The following tables compare different aspects of a number of firewalls, starting from simple home firewalls up to the most sophisticated Enterprise firewalls.
Contents |
[edit] Personal firewalls
| Firewall | License | OS | 64 bit |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA Personal Firewall | Proprietary | Windows | No |
| Comodo Firewall Pro | Freeware | Windows | Yes |
| Core Force | Apache | Windows | Unknown |
| IPFilter | BSD | Solaris, IRIX, HP-UX | Yes |
| ipfirewall | BSD | FreeBSD | Yes |
| Kaspersky Internet Security | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| Lavasoft Personal Firewall | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| Netfilter/iptables | GPL | Linux | Yes |
| Norton 360 | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| Online Armor Personal Firewall | Proprietary | Windows | Unknown |
| Outpost Firewall Pro | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| PC Tools Firewall Plus | Freeware | Windows | Unknown |
| PF | BSD | OpenBSD | Yes |
| Sunbelt Personal Firewall | Proprietary | Windows | No |
| Trend Micro Internet Security | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| Windows Firewall | Proprietary | Windows | Yes |
| ZoneAlarm | Freeware | Windows | No |
[edit] Firewall rule-set basic filtering features comparison
| Can Target: | Changing default policy to accept/ reject (by issuing only 1 rule at most) | IP destination address(es) | IP source address(es) | TCP/UDP destination port(s) | TCP/UDP source port(s) | Ethernet MAC destination address | Ethernet MAC source address | Inbound firewall (Ingress) | Outbound firewall (Egress) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP Firewall | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Windows Vista Firewall | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cisco Access List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux iptables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenBSD PF | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IPFilter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check Point VPN-1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sidewinder G2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NAI Gauntlet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zorp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trend Micro Internet Security | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
- Windows XP Firewall can target only single destination TCP/UDP port per rule, not port ranges, therefore support is partial.
[edit] Firewall rule-set advanced features comparison
| Can: | work at OSI Layer 4 (stateful firewall) | work at OSI Layer 7 (application inspection) | Change TTL? (Transparent to traceroute) | Configure REJECT-with answer | DMZ (de-militarized zone) - allows for single/several hosts not to be firewalled. | Filter according to time of day | Redirect TCP/UDP ports (port forwarding) | Redirect IP addresses (forwarding) | Filter according to User Authorization | Traffic rate-limit / QoS | Tarpit | Log |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP Firewall | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Windows Vista Firewall | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Cisco Access List | Yes (with CBAC) | Partial (with CBAC) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (with static routes) | No | Yes (with queueing) | No | Yes |
| Linux iptables | Yes | Yes (with patch) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (with NuFW) | Yes | Yes (with Patch-o-matic module) | Yes |
| OpenBSD pf | Yes | Partial (selected protocols only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IPFilter | Yes | Partial (selected protocols only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sidewinder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check Point VPN-1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes(With Web Intelligence) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- NOTE: Because Linux Iptables is text-based firewall, you can "Filter according to time of day" by using additional 3rd party tools, like expect automation tool and cron jobs.
[edit] Firewall Management features comparison
| Features: | Configuration: GUI, text or both modes? | Remote Access: Web (HTTP), Telnet, SSH, RDP, Serial COM RS232, ... | After rule change - requires firewall restart - less than one second ? | Ability to centrally manage all firewalls together |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP Firewall | both | RDP, telnet, Group Policy | Yes | Yes(with AD and GPO) |
| Windows Vista Firewall | both | RDP, telnet, Group Policy, MMC | No | Yes |
| Cisco Access List | both | Telnet, SSH, Web(Java App "PDM" or the newer "ASDM"), RS232 | Yes | Partial |
| Linux iptables | both | Telnet, SSH, Web (webmin), X/Win32 GUI "fwbuilder", RS232 | Yes | Yes |
| OpenBSD pf | both | Telnet, SSH, Web (webmin), X/Win32 GUI "fwbuilder", RS232 | Yes | Yes |
| IPFilter | both | Telnet, SSH, Web (webmin), X/Win32 GUI "fwbuilder", RS232 | Yes | Yes |
| Check Point VPN-1 | GUI | proprietary GUI, SSH, Web (HTTP/HTTPS) | Yes | Yes |
- NOTE: Rule changes on Checkpoint firewalls do not require any restart and incur no outage time.
- NOTE: Because Linux Iptables and Cisco ACL are text-based firewalls, you can centrally manage them all-at-once by using additional tools, like KDE Konsole or expect automation tool.
- NOTE: Due to the distributed nature of the Checkpoint architecture, no single interface is used exclusively. Security, NAT and VPN configuration is always done using the proprietary GUI, however basic IP networking and routing configuration of individual firewalls could be done using SSH or the Web interface.
[edit] Firewall's other features comparison
| Features: | Modularity: supports third-party modules to extend functionality? | Open-Source License? | supports IPv6 ? | Class: Home / Professional | on what Operating Systems it runs? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP Firewall | No | No | No | Home | Windows XP Windows Server 2003 |
| Windows Vista Firewall | Yes | No | Yes | Both | Windows Vista Windows Server 2008 |
| Cisco Access List | No | No | Yes | Professional | Cisco IOS |
| Linux iptables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Professional | Linux 2.4+ |
| OpenBSD pf | Yes | Yes | Yes | Professional | OpenBSD, FreeBSD 6.0+, NetBSD 3.0+ |
| IPFilter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Professional | Solaris, IRIX, HP-UX. Available but deprecated on Linux, BSD. |
| Check Point VPN-1 | Yes | No | Yes | Professional | Solaris, Linux (SPLAT or RHEL), Windows NT,2000,2003 |
- NOTE: Checkpoint support a limited range of third-party modules from certified partners. Modules are integrated with Checkpoint firewalls through a platform named OPSEC
[edit] Non-Firewall extra features comparison
Those features are not strictly firewall features, but are sometimes bundled with firewall software, or exist on the platform.
NOTE: Features will be marked as "yes", even if it's separate module that comes with the platform, on which firewall sits.
IDS: real-time firewall that logs/sniffs/blocks suspicious connections, that are not part of rule-set.
VPN (Virtual Private Network) Types are: PPTP, L2TP, MPLS, IPsec, SSL/SSH.
| Can: | NAT (static, dynamic w/o ports, PAT) | IDS (Intrusion Detection System) | VPN (Virtual Private Network) | AV (Anti-Virus) | Sniffer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows XP | Partial (PAT, with Internet Connection Sharing) | Yes (with SPECTER) | Partial (Limited to 1 client) | Yes (McAfee, Symantec, etc) | Yes (with wireshark) |
| Windows Vista | Partial (PAT, with Internet Connection Sharing) | Yes (with SPECTER) | Partial (Limited to 1 client) | Yes (McAfee, Symantec, etc) | Yes (with wireshark) |
| Cisco IOS | Yes (supports three NAT types) | Yes | Yes (some IOS versions) | No | No |
| Linux OS | Yes (supports three NAT types) | Yes (with Prelude-IDS or Snort) | Yes (with openVPN) | Yes (with clamav) | Yes (with wireshark or tcpdump) |
| OpenBSD pf | Yes (supports three NAT types) | Yes (with Prelude-IDS or Snort) | Yes | Yes (with clamav) | Yes (with wireshark or tcpdump) |
| IPFilter | Yes (supports three NAT types) | Yes (with Prelude-IDS or Snort) | Yes (Native on Solaris, HP-UX. With third-party software on IRIX, BSD, Linux.) | Yes (with clamav) | Yes (with wireshark or tcpdump) |
| Check Point | Yes (supports three NAT types) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (with wireshark,tcpdump or FW-1 kernel inside dump "fw monitor" a powerful tool to determine many aspects of the connection before and after packet enters/leaves OS routing system |
