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What a firewall does#
A firewall is a piece of software or hardware which sits between your school network and the internet. It enforces rules about what kind of internet traffic can be sent or received by your devices. Whether an activity is considered malicious or legitimate is determined by you.
A firewall is like a security guard for your school network. The firewall’s job is to check everyone entering and leaving your school network according to the restrictions you have given them.
What a firewall does not do#
While firewalls are an important defence against cyber attacks, they should not be your only form of protection.
A firewall will not:
- stop a hacker once they are inside your network
- protect you if a hacker has stolen your password.
For example, if one of your staff accidentally clicks a phishing email and enters their Google or Microsoft password, a firewall will not stop the hacker from accessing their account.
Why firewalls are important#
Firewalls help prevent malicious activity by cyber criminals from entering your school network, while letting legitimate activity from your staff and students flow in and out freely.
Network for Learning’s firewall service#
Network for Learning (N4L) has a fully funded firewall service. It includes their recommended default blocked firewall rules to provide your first line of defence.
N4L’s recommended default blocked firewall rules – N4L
Internet Safety & Security Services – N4L
Additional firewall rules#
Your school may want more firewall rules. This could be to block a specific website not captured by your web filtering. We recommend that you discuss this with N4L or your information technology (IT) provider if you have one.
Contact N4L:
Freephone (NZ only): 0800 LEARNING (0800 532 764)
Email: [email protected]
Other actions you should take#
Using a firewall is just the first layer of defence when it comes to keeping your school cyber safe. To make sure your school has a suitable level of protection, we recommend following this guidance.
