Vidya: Hi John. John: Hai Vidya. How are you? After a long time. Vidya: Yes, was busy with my work. Where are you now?
John: Brazil till December end. Vidya: Ok. We will meet in December to have Christmas celebrations together. John: Sure. Vidya: Hey John, I need a help. John: I know you come to me only then. What’s the matter? Vidya: Ours is a medium company with a maximum of 100 computers. We have two internet connections and a load balancer. So do we need to install and invest in a firewall? John: Are you still with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan? Vidya: Yes, but working from Kerala. John: Good. Yes, your company should invest in a firewall. With 100 computers, two internet connections, and a load balancer, you are operating at a scale where unmanaged traffic poses serious risks. A firewall is essential to protect against malware, ransomware, unauthorized access, and data breaches, especially since medium‑sized businesses in India are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals. Vidya: But all these years we managed without a firewall. John: Monitoring is a must. Your IT team may be doing that properly. Vidya: IT team? We don’t have any. John: But you are there, na? Vidya: No. I am in Kerala and after I left Mumbai, I am not monitoring the network traffic. Not able to do it remotely. John: Oh. Then your company is taking a big risk. Better have the firewall as early as possible. Anytime your system will crash. Vidya: What system? John: The entire office setup. Vidya: Firewall and load balancer both required? John: No. Firewall is enough. If you have heavy traffic, then go for a load balancer. Otherwise not. Vidya: But firewall is very expensive, I heard. John: Yes, expensive but worth paying. Hardware firewall is a one‑time investment, but updates are available only when you pay extra every year. Vidya: Any other option which is less expensive? John: Software firewall is there. Need to buy one for each computer and renew every year. Not a good choice. You may end up spending more. Vidya: So better go for hardware firewall. That is better, I think. John: There is one more option: cloud‑based firewall. Purely subscription‑based. It is used by companies that connect to remote centers and work remotely, or work‑from‑home staff connecting to the office network. Vidya: We are not doing anything like that. Only for less than one hour we may connect each other using AnyDesk. John: Using AnyDesk or TeamViewer for short periods is ok. They have their own firewalls and encryption. Totally safe. Vidya: So what is your suggestion? John: Go for hardware firewall. Vidya: Do we need to monitor the firewall? John: Of course. Your IT team will take care of that. Vidya: We don’t have an IT team! John: Then you can contact a firewall vendor to monitor your firewall for you for a fee. Vidya: By training one staff with some computer knowledge, can we manage the firewall efficiently? John: Vidya, you know the complications of a networking setup. You may be able to manage it. Vidya: From here in Kerala? John: No. You need to be there in the office to do that. Vidya: Can we train one person? John: Basics one can pick up easily. To go deep, proper understanding of security and firewall technology is a must. The company that does the setup will also take the job on AMC. They will do the monitoring and updating. Try that. Vidya: What is the risk of having no firewall? John: Many. Malware infection on one computer may spread to other computers quickly. Hackers may enter your network through open ports. Your customers and employees’ data may be stolen. The internet may be blocked and all online training will come to a halt. Vidya: Wait a minute. We are not doing any online transactions. Even if internet is not there for some time, it does not affect our work. John: Then forget that. But your customers and employees’ complete data can be exposed. Vidya: We don’t have such data on the computers. All are in paper files only. John: Then what are you doing online? Vidya: We use internet to check mails and to browse for information. John: By mistake if someone opens a malware file, it can spread quickly to other computers. Firewall will block the mail before it reaches your inbox. Vidya: We all are using Gmail only. Will Gmail remove all such malware files? John: Yes, Gmail will filter such malware files. Vidya: One more doubt. How will malware spread from one computer to the other computers in the office? John: Through networking. Vidya: But in our office all the computers are stand‑alone. Not connected to any network. Files are transferred using USB drives or via email. John: Computers are not on a network? No company email server? Vidya: No. If all our computers are stand‑alone, each has antivirus, and employees only use Gmail + browsing, do we still need a firewall? John: Not at all. Thanks for clarifying — if all 100 computers are stand‑alone, each connects to Wi‑Fi individually, and you only use Gmail + browsing with antivirus installed, then don’t invest in a firewall. John: You may not need a central firewall because:
No shared network — the PCs aren’t connected to a common LAN, malware cannot easily spread laterally.
Gmail security — Google already provides strong spam and phishing filtering.
Antivirus on each PC — provides endpoint protection.
Password‑protected Wi‑Fi router — most routers already have a basic firewall built in.
So a large hardware firewall appliance at the network edge is unnecessary, because there is no single “network edge.” Each PC is its own edge. Vidya: So we do not need a firewall at all. John: Wait. Are you using WPA2/WPA3 with strong passwords? Are you allowing anyone to connect to Wi‑Fi? Vidya: No. John: Are you using DNS filtering? Vidya: Yes, we use Google Safe DNS (8.8.8.8) because that is free. John: You can use Quad9 or Cloudflare DNS. Both are free. Vidya: Ok. So what is your final recommendation? John: Google Safe DNS is free, fast, and reliable. But it does not block malicious or phishing domains. Log into your Wi‑Fi router and change the DNS setting to Quad9 or Cloudflare DNS for more security. Vidya: Ok. So what should we do now? John: Since all 100 computers are stand‑alone, connect via Wi‑Fi, and use Gmail + antivirus, you don’t need a big firewall appliance. What will give you the most benefit with the least effort is DNS filtering. Apply that and stay in God’s Own Country. Vidya: Thanks a lot, John, for your valuable feedback. John: So you are still in the typewriter era. When are you going to introduce new technology in your office? Vidya: Because the system is old, old people like me are still continuing. Let’s go at our own pace. John: Have a nice time. Vidya: Bye.