What is a firewall designed to do?

A firewall is designed to filter and control the flow of information in a network. Its primary function is to act as a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted external networks, such as the internet. By doing so, it can allow or deny data packets based on predetermined security rules. This helps protect the network from malicious attacks, unauthorized access, and harmful traffic while permitting legitimate communications to occur.

Firewalls operate at various levels of the network, inspecting incoming and outgoing traffic and determining whether to allow or block it based on security protocols. This capability is crucial for maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data within the network. Thus, the ability to effectively manage and filter data plays a vital role in overall network security.

Other options, while important for data management and security, do not specifically pertain to the primary function of a firewall. Regular data backups ensure that data can be recovered in case of loss, antivirus updates protect systems from malware, and data encryption secures sensitive information by making it unreadable without proper keys. However, none of these functions describe the specific operations a firewall performs.