Raspberry Pi firewalls can be an invaluable asset in strengthening the security of your home network, protecting against intrusions or data breaches.
This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing and configuring a Raspberry Pi firewall using UFW to manage its rules.
Prerequisites
Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer widely popular with hobbyists and makers and can be tailored to fulfill many roles – one is acting as a firewall to protect your home or even an office network (Yes, they are that practical) against attacks by restricting incoming and outgoing network traffic according to specific security rules.
Various firewall options are compatible with Raspberry Pi, but this tutorial will focus on setting up the Uncomplicated Firewall software (UFW). UFW provides an intuitive frontend for managing iptables – a versatile yet complex built-in Linux firewall – while maintaining strong security measures.
Raspberry Pi firewalls offer users many benefits, from securing remote access to home networks and protecting IoT devices from potential attack due to weak security protocols to acting as an educational tool and backup in case their primary network goes down – as a firewall serves as the primary form of defense against intrusions and threats on any given network.
A Raspberry Pi firewall also serves as an invaluable educational resource, with students, technology enthusiasts, teachers, and educational administrators finding great learning experiences from it! It’s an ideal educational tool to experiment with networking concepts and Linux commands, if this is the first time you are learning abou them, and you don’t have an easy way to access such technology otherwise.
Installing UFW
Whether you are an enthusiastic tech hobbyist looking to turn their Raspberry Pi into an effective firewall or an SMB owner looking to strengthen network security, UFW firewall is an invaluable way of doing just that. This guide will teach you how to install and configure an Uncomplicated Firewall on a Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black, enabling you to control incoming/outgoing traffic using it as you wish – this includes blocking, monitoring, and restricting.
Before beginning, ensure your Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone has an internet connection, and then open a terminal and enter these commands to install UFW:
First, Update your package list:
sudo apt update
Then you should Install the actual software UFW:
sudo ufw enable
You’ll be prompted to confirm. Type ‘y’ and hit enter.
Basic Configurations
Allow SSH Connection (Very important if you’re connecting remotely)
sudo ufw allow ssh
or
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
To Allow all the HTTP and HTTPS traffic through the firewall:
sudo ufw allow http,https
If you feel you want to open a specific port only, then to do this use:
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp
Check Status and List Rules
This command will display a list of all active rules. You’ll be able to see which ports are allowed or denied.
sudo ufw status
Deleting Rules
Your firewall rules should now be visible, with an overview of those created and existing rules that have been deleted using these commands.
If you made a mistake or wish to remove a rule, you can do it like this:
- First, delete by rule number
This command will get you the number:
sudo ufw status numbered
Let’s say you want to delete rule number 8, your command will be:
sudo ufw delete 8
You’ll be asked to confirm the deletion. Type ‘y’ and press enter.
Disable UFW
If you wish to disable UFW, you can do it like this:
sudo ufw disable
Note that this will cancel all connections to the port identified by your rule number (i.e. 8 for OpenSSH). When asked to confirm your desire to delete, type ‘y’ and press enter to continue with the deletion of the rule.
Managing the UFW Service
Firewalls are an indispensable security component for any computer or device connected to the Internet, monitoring incoming and outgoing network traffic to allow or block connections based on pre-set rules. A firewall also helps defend systems against attacks exploiting port vulnerabilities.
UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is a straightforward firewall configuration tool for the Raspberry Pi that makes configuring firewall management software like iptables easier for its users without having to learn its advanced syntax.
One of the key functions of any good firewall is denying access to ports not required for service functionality. By default, UFW’s policy prohibits all incoming ports.
It’s an effective way to prevent unauthorized access to your Raspberry Pi. However, if you connect using SSH, you must enable this connection first – to do this run this command:
sudo ufw allow ssh
Default UFW Configuration
If you have ever used Linux computer then chances are you have had to set up a firewall. While setting up a firewall is essential in protecting your system from cybercriminals, its configuration can be daunting for those unfamiliar with command line syntax. UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) provides an easier and quicker method for configuring firewall rules on Linux computers by offering easy-to-use commands which make the process quicker and simpler – it comes standard on Raspberry Pi OS as well as many other distributions.
An essential aspect of any UFW install is determining how secure your server needs to be, which depends on its intended usage and services that run on it. The level of protection necessary will differ depending on these variables.
Once UFW is installed, by default it denies all incoming connections. To begin configuring UFW effectively, allow certain ports – for instance if you use SSH then add a rule that allows connections from port 22 (the default SSH daemon port). Note: Please be warned that activating your firewall could disrupt existing SSH sessions; should this happen you can always turn it off later if desired.
Allowing and Blocking Ports
As every user will use their Raspberry Pi differently, it is in their best interests to understand which services they are running and the ports it uses in order to create firewall rules suited for those services based on individual configuration. Each rule allows or blocks specific connections or groups based on its configuration.
Additionally, as well as permitting or blocking ports, it’s also possible to limit the number of connections on specific ports. This feature can be useful if you want to allow a particular port but want additional security measures. For instance, using sudo ufw allow 22 -p tcp ssh> -j ACCEPT allows access but limits it so only six connections may be made in 30 seconds.
UFW firewall is an easy and accessible frontend for managing the iptables firewall on Ubuntu and Debian Linux distributions, offering simple configuration that makes it an accessible alternative to more costly solutions such as Pfsense.
Custom Firewall Rules
Add firewall rules to further increase the security of your Raspberry Pi, usually by permitting incoming traffic and rejecting or restricting connections from unauthorized devices. It should be remembered, however, that firewalls cannot serve as the sole solution for network protection and that additional measures should be implemented as necessary.
One measure to strengthen security includes creating and using strong passwords that prevent unauthorised users from accessing your network or server application. WPI’s Information Security Office advises using something such as “password” or “123456.” Changing default login credentials (username: pi, password: raspberry) to more robust and unique ones can further protect from attackers exploiting these default credentials.
Firewalls are essential tools in network security. The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive and energy-efficient device, making it the ideal solution. But even with all this power at hand, a Raspberry Pi firewall cannot guarantee protection against every threat; with a bit of knowledge it can become an affordable home network firewall as well as being an educational experience into network security and Linux commands for both teachers and learners alike.