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title, description, ms.topic, ms.date
| title | description | ms.topic | ms.date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Firewall overview | Learn overview information about the Windows Firewall security feature. | conceptual | 11/14/2023 |
Windows Firewall overview
Windows Firewall is a stateful host firewall that helps secure the device by allowing you to create rules that determine which network traffic is permitted to enter the device from the network and which network traffic the device is allowed to send to the network. Windows Firewall supports Internet Protocol security (IPsec), which you can use to require authentication from any device that is attempting to communicate with your device. When authentication is required, devices that can't be authenticated as a trusted device can't communicate with your device. You can use IPsec to require that certain network traffic is encrypted to prevent it from being read by network packet analyzers that could be attached to the network by
Windows Firewall also works with Network Awareness so that it can apply security settings appropriate to the types of networks to which the device is connected.
Practical applications
Windows Firewall offers several benefits to address your organization's network security challenges:
- Reduced risk of network security threats: By reducing the attack surface of a device, Windows Firewall provides an additional layer of defense to the defense-in-depth model. This increases manageability and decreases the likelihood of a successful attack
- Protection of sensitive data and intellectual property: Windows Firewall integrates with IPsec to provide a simple way to enforce authenticated, end-to-end network communications. This allows for scalable, tiered access to trusted network resources, helping to enforce data integrity and, if necessary, protect data confidentiality
- Extended value of existing investments: Windows Firewall is a host-based firewall included with the operating system, so no additional hardware or software is required. It's also designed to complement existing non-Microsoft network security solutions through a documented API
:::image type="content" source="images/windows-security.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing the Windows Security app." border="false":::
[!INCLUDE windows-firewall]
:::image type="icon" source="images/feedback.svg" border="false"::: Provide feedback
To provide feedback for Windows Firewall, open Feedback Hub (WIN+F) and use the category Security and Privacy > Network protection.
Next steps
[!div class="nextstepaction"] Learn how to configure Windows Firewall: