Do You Need An Antivirus Or A Firewall? (The Real Differences)

Antivirus vs Firewall – Which One Do YOU Need?

Are you confused between the two terms: Antivirus and Firewall? You may already know that Firewalls help you control network traffic but what about protection from viruses? And Antiviruses detect malicious files and virus but doesn’t it monitor network traffic as well?

There is a significant difference between the two even if they both help to protect your system. Today, You’ll know about the differences between antivirus and firewall so you can make the best suitable choice according to your home or office requirements

Let’s start off with the basics first

What is an Antivirus Software?

Most of the personal and office PCs use an Antivirus software which protects their systems. The main job of an antivirus software is to scan, detect and prevent any kids of suspicious files and software. The Antivirus may prevent further attack by deleting the infected file, isolating it or monitoring the Internet traffic.

Along with these, most antivirus softwares include various kinds of scans such internet or file scan, vulnerability detection, etc

What is a Firewall?

You can implement the firewall as a software and hardware. Most common example of a firewall software is the Windows Firewall in Windows 7, and the firewall hardware is inbuilt in most routers you purchase these days. Most routers come with an inbuilt firewall to protect your network from the rest of the network (Internet).

There are three types of firewall which we can segregate by communication location, interception location and the state in which we are tracing the data.

The three types of Firewalls

1. Network Layer Firewall: This type of firewall has a packet filter that monitors the packets being sent and received. Then, it provides security by accepting or rejecting these packets on the basis of predefined filtering rules.
2. Application Level Firewall: This firewall works for a specific application and applies security mechanisms to prevent all unwanted traffic over the network.
3. Circuit Level Firewall: Also known as proxy servers, this firewall allows only specific packets to enter the network and restrict all other packets completely. It also protects the network by hiding the actual machine address (IP address) over the Internet.

You might now have a grasp of what those terms mean and one thing is clear.

Antivirus and Firewall, both have the same purpose of protection against cyber threats. Then, what is the difference?

Let’s see now:

Antivirus vs Firewall: The Differences

In this Antivirus vs. Firewall difference, the primary differentiator is the mechanism both these tools use to protect your system from malicious attacks and what they can protect.

Prevention vs Protection

Firewall protection monitors the network traffic and thus prevents malicious data from entering your network thereby preventing viruses. However, a virus can also enter your system with a download, spam link click or from a CD or USB. Once the virus has bypassed your firewall protection, the role of an antivirus comes into play.

An antivirus runs the scan and detects the malware to prevent it from spreading further by deleting or isolating the file. We can also say that while Firewall stops the virus and malware from entering the system, it does nothing to remove the cyber threat that has already infected the system.

So firewall will stop viruses from coming from the internet or the online world. Whereas, an antivirus will help you prevent the virus which came through other sources such as email, spam links, etc from spreading further.

Major Differences Between Antivirus and Firewall

• A Firewall protects infected and malicious software and packets from entering your system. The antivirus is the next-step protection which will remove the infected files and software from your PC and network.
• The Antivirus works at the file level whereas a firewall will protect your system at the network protocol level blocking all vulnerable packets on the port.
• An antivirus is a standalone software that protects other software. On the other hand, a Firewall is capable of preserving both software and hardware on the network.

Chart for Antivirus vs Firewall

Basis for contrast	Antivirus	Firewall
Implementation	Implementations are found only in the software.	Implementations are found both in the hardware and software.
Performing operations	Scan corrupt files and software.	Monitor and filter (more so IP filtering).
Concerns	Internal and external threats.	External threats.
Counterattacks	No counter attacks are possible after malware removal.	IP spoofing and routing attacks.
Basis of attack inspection	Malicious software living on a computer.	Incoming packets.

Conclusion

Now you’ve seen the differences above. If you do various things on your device other than just a casual search or want to get an overall protection then you should go with a good antivirus.

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