Network security encompasses the tools, techniques, and practices to protect a network from threats. These tools include both hardware and software and can protect against a variety of threats.
Although the topic is too broad for much detail here, we will cover a few topics that you are likely to encounter.
Firewalls are one of the most common network security techniques. Firewalls act as a barrier between one network and another. As commonly used, they monitor network traffic and allow or block traffic based on a defined set of rules.
Firewalls come in two types: software and hardware. Most operating systems provide software firewalls now. Software firewalls are typically configured to deny incoming connections unless a rule is set up to allow it explicitly.
It is also possible to configure software firewalls to deny outgoing traffic by default. In this case...
