Configuring Windows Firewall
When we look at Windows Firewall, we will be introduced to the Reusable settings option. An environment will often have multiple firewall policies for different user and device groups to allow a piece of software to run or to further restrict a selection of devices. The idea behind Reusable Settings is that you can configure your specific firewall rules and then apply those across policies without needing to manually add them each time.
To give you an idea, this rule would block all Google domains:
Figure 3.5 – Windows Firewall – Reusable Settings
In this recipe, we will stick with a basic firewall to block incoming traffic and allow outbound traffic as our first line of defense.
How to do it…
Now that we have looked at reusable settings, follow these steps to configure the standard Microsoft Defender firewall policy:
- In the portal, navigate to Endpoint security, then Firewall. Choose Create...