Firewalls Part 1

Introduction

Welcome to the Firewalls - Part 1 Practice Lab. In this module you will be provided with the instructions and devices needed to develop your hands-on skills.

Learning Outcomes

In this module, you will complete the following exercises:

• Exercise 1 - Prepare Lab for Windows Firewall
• Exercise 2 - Manage Inbound and Outbound Rules

After completing this lab, you will be able to:

• Configure inbound and outbound firewall rules
• Test basic connectivity after creating the firewall rules

Exam Objectives

The following exam objectives are covered in this lab:

• Understand dedicated firewalls - characteristics of firewall, software firewall, stateful versus stateless firewall inspection

Lab Duration

It will take approximately 45 minutes to complete this lab.

Exercise 1 - Prepare Lab for Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall is a host-based firewall that applies security on the computer by blocking unauthorized access to its services and decrease its exposure to potentially destructive network probes when connected to the public Internet or the local intranet.

Windows Firewall is manageable using two applications namely: Windows Firewall known as Windows Defender Security Center in Windows 10 and Windows Firewall with Advanced Security called Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

Windows Defender Security Center in Windows 10, combines the Defender antivirus /threat protection feature and basic firewall settings.

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security includes features for creating rules for granular control of Inbound and Outbound traffic. It has the Connection Security Rules for creating IPsec policies and network isolation.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this exercise, you will be able to:

• Configure inbound and outbound firewall rules

Exercise 2 - Manage Inbound and Outbound Rules

Similar to other firewall products, Windows Firewall supports the creation of rules both inbound and outbound to protect a computer from unnecessary exposure from the Internet and the internal network.

Inbound firewall rules are enabled by default on a Windows computer. When creating either inbound or outbound rules, Windows firewall use network profiles that provide flexibility when a computer is connected to different types of networks. These profiles are Domain, Private and Public networks.

Domain profile applies when a computer is a member of an Active Directory domain. This type of profile assumes that you are connected to devices in a trusted network. Private profile applies when a computer is connected to a home or small office network. When a computer is not a member of an Active Directory domain, this is the default profile used. The public profile is applicable when a Windows computer is connected to a public network such as the Internet. Public networks found in common areas like an airport lounge, malls and shops are inherently not secure. Therefore, only a few ports are open to protect a Windows computer from potential intruders.

Windows operating system provides services file found in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc folder. This file gives a summary of well-known TCP and UDP ports used by Windows services. You can use this file as a guide when creating inbound and outbound rules to protect a computer when it connects to different types of networks.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this exercise, you will be able to:

• Test basic connectivity after creating the firewall rules