Opensource Applications » Security

Best Open Source Firewalls

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:47:08 +0000

Firewalls are essential to every organistaion. Apart from the expensive commercial ones, there exist numerous open source counterparts. It is usually difficult to choose the best open source Firewall that suits your needs. So here is a list of the most popular and best Open Source Firewall alternatives.

1. SmoothWall

SmoothWall is a Linux distribution designed to be used as an open source firewall. Designed for ease of use, SmoothWall is configured via a web-based GUI, and requires little or no knowledge of Linux to install or use.

2. FireHOL

FireHOL is a stateful iptables packet filtering firewall configurator. It is abstracted, extensible, easy and powerful. It can handle any kind of firewall, but most importantly, it gives you the means to configure it, the same way you think of it.

3. Firestarter

Firestarter is an Open Source visual firewall program. The software aims to combine ease of use with powerful features, therefore serving both Linux desktop users and system administrators. Linux security does not have to be complex, and simplicity does not have to mean sacrificing power. With Firestarter you will have a firewall up and running in minutes.

4. NetDefender

NetDefender is a Free Firewall with source code, which can be downloaded along with firewall executables. Netdefender works on windows 2000 and windows XP.

5. Endian Firewall

Endian Firewall Community is an all-in-one Linux security distribution that turns every system into a full featured security appliance. Designed with usability in mind, Endian developed a solution that is extremely flexible, easy to install and manage. The Community version has been warmly embraced by the open source community and has so far enjoyed over 330000 downloads with thousands of installations worldwide.

PF (firewall)

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:21 +0000

PF (Packet Filter, also written pf) is a BSD licensed stateful packet filter, a central piece of software for firewalling. It is comparable to iptables, ipfw and ipfilter. PF is developed on OpenBSD, but has been ported to many other operating systems.

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PeerGuardian

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:17 +0000

PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs premier IP blocker for Windows. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.

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pfSense

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:15 +0000

pfSense is a free, open source customized distribution of FreeBSD tailored for use as a firewall and router. In addition to being a powerful, flexible firewalling and routing platform, it includes a long list of related features and a package system allowing further expandability without adding bloat and potential security vulnerabilities to the base distribution. pfSense is a popular project with more than 1 million downloads since its inception, and proven in countless installations ranging from small home networks protecting a PC and an Xbox to large corporations, universities and other organizations protecting thousands of network devices.

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IPFilter

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:13 +0000

IPFilter is a software package that can be used to provide network address translation (NAT) or firewall services. To use, it can either be used as a loadable kernel module or incorporated into your UNIX kernel; use as a loadable kernel module where possible is highly recommended. Scripts are provided to install and patch system files, as required.

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Firewall Builder

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:10 +0000

Firewall Builder is a GUI firewall configuration and management tool that supports iptables (netfilter), ipfilter, pf, ipfw, Cisco PIX (FWSM, ASA) and Cisco routers extended access lists. Both network administrators and hobbyists managing firewalls with policies more complex that is allowed by simple web based UI can simplify management tasks with the application. The program runs on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows and Mac OS X and can manage both local and remote firewalls.

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iptables

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:08 +0000

iptables is a user space application program that allows a system administrator to configure the tables provided by the Linux kernel firewall (implemented as different Netfilter modules) and the chains and rules it stores. Different kernel modules and programs are currently used for different protocols; iptables applies to IPv4, ip6tables to IPv6, arptables to ARP, and ebtables as a special for Ethernet frames.

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eBox

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:05 +0000

eBox Platform is an open source unified network server (or an Unified Network Platform) for SMEs. eBox Platform can act as a Gateway, a Network Infrastructure Manager, a Unified Threat Manager, an Office Server, a Unified Communications Server or a combination of them. Besides, eBox Platform includes a development framework to ease the development of new Unix based services.

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Shorewall

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:03 +0000

Shorewall is an open source firewall tool for Linux that builds upon the Netfilter (iptables/ipchains) system built into the Linux kernel, making it easier to manage more complex configuration schemes.

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Monowall

js guy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Monowall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. The PC version can be run with just a Live CD and a floppy disk to store configuration data, or on a single Compact Flash card (with an IDE adapter). This eliminates the need for a hard drive, which reduces noise and heat levels.

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