How a Next-Generation Firewall Can Change Your Business’ Security for the Better

Cyberthreats have grown exponentially more powerful and more dangerous over the years, and unless you do something to protect yourself, you can expect your current security measures to slowly succumb to the latest threats. Next-gen firewalls, or NGFWs, are advanced network security devices or software solutions that include both your traditional firewall system with stronger protection and visibility tools to keep tabs on network traffic. NGFWs are a solution that addresses the near-constant evolution of cyberthreats like malware, intrusion attempts, and other types of malicious threats.

Major Aspects of Next-Generation Firewalls

• Application awareness: With the ability to identify and control applications and services at the application level, NGFWs can determine who should have access permissions based on the applications and services utilized, not just by IP and port numbers.
• Intrusion protection systems: NGFWs include intrusion protection capabilities in their solutions, which are great for helping to detect and prevent known and unknown threats through a traffic analysis. 
• User and identity awareness: These more advanced firewalls are designed to associate network traffic with specific individuals or devices, allowing for more powerful user-based policies and monitoring.
• Content filtering: NGFWs allow for web filtering that can block or allow specific types of websites, allowing businesses to enforce user policies and keep their networks safe from potential threats.
• Advanced threat protection: Features like antivirus, anti-malware, and sandboxing are all common features in these NGFWs, all of which are great for protecting against advanced threats like zero-day attacks.
• VPN support: Since today’s workforce is often working remotely or from site to site, NFGWs often work together with virtual private networks to ensure access and functionality.
• Security intelligence: NGFWs are capable of updating their security policies in accordance with new threat intelligence feeds and databases, allowing them to stay up-to-date against even emerging threats.
• Granular control: If they choose to, admins can have total granular control over network traffic, allowing and denying access based on application, user, content type, and more.
• Logging and reporting: NGFWs are great for tracking logs and reporting on network activities. This can help admins adjust their incident responses as well as aid in their compliance reports.
• Scalability and performance: NGFWs are also great because they can handle high volumes of traffic and scale performance as needed, whether it’s a large or a small company.

As threats grow stronger and more dangerous, the additional power and control a next-generation firewall offers might make all the difference in how you protect your network. Naturally, the more visible and greater control you have over your network traffic, the more likely you are to prevent threats from harming your network. Even if you don’t have a next-generation firewall in place, you still need to keep your threat definitions up-to-date, as you might otherwise be putting your data at risk.

BNMC can help you equip your business with all necessary tools, including NGFWs. To learn more, reach out to us at (978) 482-2020.