SELECTING A FIREWALL
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE A FIREWALL RIGHT?
A firewall stands at the forefront of your solution’s network security architecture. It’s an indispensable round-the-clock guard that monitors your network’s perimeters, examines data packets, detects threats, blocks intruders, and keeps your assets safe from external attacks.
Because a firewall is a front-door checkpoint that inspects your system security and controls and filters incoming or outgoing network traffic, informed decisions are crucial when planning a firewall installation.
Cybersecurity infrastructure is not something a business can take for granted. Without an advanced system that’s strong, big, and modern enough, business assets can fall prey to attacks, unauthorized access, or other security breaches that often result in drastic consequences. If you choose wrong, the corporate risks are too high (from unnecessary expenses on a non-optimal firewall system to legal proceedings due to data leaks).
WHAT IS A FIREWALL SELECTION SERVICE AND WHO NEEDS IT?
Having a powerful firewall that can protect your network and business from various cyber threats is essential. And though the reasons for getting hold of the top level of protection are evident to forward-thinking business owners, not all have the knowledge or team capacity to handle the matters
How do you select an appropriate firewall size? Which features are required when you’re planning a firewall installation? Which options are the most budget-friendly ones? And it’s not just about price. Some solutions are a better fit for large-scale organizations, while there are cases when, due to a specific network architecture, it is more reasonable to opt for two firewalls as it could be cheaper and safer business-wise.
Those who aren’t sure how to choose a firewall or which one will best fit their needs often turn to third-party professionals who provide firewall selection services. If you have doubts answering the questions above, OutsourceIT.PRO’s firewall experts can help make the optimal choice. And if you need a hand with configuring the firewall or assistance with consequent firewall management, we can do that as well.
HOW ARE FIREWALLS SELECTED?
Before you make a purchase decision, it makes sense to begin the process of selecting a firewall with these steps:
1
Step
Figure out which areas of focus you have, which tasks you need to complete
2
Step
Decide on the throughput and network bandwidth to ensure smooth performance
3
Step
List the additional features and functionality your business needs
TYPES OF FIREWALLS
What else makes selecting a firewall such a headache for many people? For one thing, there are numerous kinds of firewall solutions out there. To name a few, there exist:
Network Firewalls
Legacy port-base Packet Filtering - provide very basic network security
UTM Firewalls
Legacy Unified Threat Management (UTM) Firewalls (more functions but very slow)
NGFW Firewalls
Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) - hardware or virtual high perfirmance security apliances
NGFWs are OutsourceIT.PRO’s top choice 👍
TOP NGFW FIREWALL VENDORS
Plenty of next-generation firewalls are currently available on the market. And sadly, many vendors claim to be NGFWs when they really aren’t or can’t live up to the performance promises claimed in their data sheets. This explains why many businesses face the high risk of purchasing an ineffective firewall solution.
So when selecting a firewall for our clients, we give preference to these three tried-and-tested NGFWs, which are trusted worldwide:
FIREWALL SELECTION CRITERIA
What should you keep in mind when selecting a firewall? Various criteria will determine what kind of firewall will suit your organization’s needs best. Here are a few worth noting:
You have to pick a proper firewall size to fit your business needs. This depends on several factors, including:
- Network size (having multiple networks or zones and the number of internal networks)
- Business distribution (e.g., authorized IP addresses and devices outside a single physical space)
- Number of users
- Level of data sensitivity
- Whether you need 24/7 or 9-to-5 security
- Industry obligations and compliance rules you must adhere to (e.g., the PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
You need a firewall protecting your business assets, and therefore, to secure your firewall choice, you must evaluate the available feature set a vendor suggests. At times, firewalls are fitted with components that’ll allow you to get rid of standalone solutions performing such functions. Pay attention to essential security features like:
- External dynamic lists (how the system interacts with external URLs)
- Threat intelligence (how the firewall handles command and control)
- DNS sinkholing (how a firewall blocks DNS queries and its fast-flux capabilities)
- Application detection capabilities (including dynamic apps and those with unusual ports like POP3 and 10000)
- Intrusion detection and prevention features
- Protection from malware
- Spam filtering
- Whether the system supports VPNs
- Content filtering
- Anti-virus protection
You need to make sure that the selected firewall is able to handle your current needs and will be capable of serving you equally well as you scale. You wouldn’t want bottlenecks, right? For instance, such parameters should be taken into account:
- How the firewall determines file types (i.e., according to the name or file type)
- In which applications it sees files and has a signature-based antivirus (such as HTTP(s), IMAP(s), and others)
- Throughput (i.e., the supported traffic volumes)
- Number of supported concurrent or simultaneous connections
- Firewall performance (such as its bit forwarding rate or whether it’s big enough to handle various internal traffic between segments)
- Whether the application is a qualificator in your network firewall or not
- Whether you encrypt SSL and SSH
- How HTTPS URL filtration works
Evaluate how simple it is to integrate a firewall with third-party security applications or systems that your business uses. A firewall has to be compatible with your current security infrastructure. Cross-check whether the firewall is compatible with:
- Used antivirus software
- Your SIEM (security information and event management) platforms
- Intrusion prevention systems (IPS)
Likewise, simplicity in configuration is as important as ease of use and maintenance. You need to know how long hardware replacement will take and the overall lifespan of the firewall system, too.
The overall cost of using a firewall and the included feature set can also narrow down your search. Purchase fees, obtaining licenses, patches, tech support pricing for future years, and maintaining the firewall will all add up.
A firewall vendor’s track record also counts, as entrusting a no-name vendor might be risky. Reviews, availability, level of technical support, and overall user trust are important.
HOW OUTSOURCEIT.PRO CAN HELP IN SELECTING A FIREWALL
Our certified team has ample expertise working with firewalls, and we know the ins and outs of choosing and configuring them. You can turn to us not only for a consultation on firewall selection but also if you’re looking for someone you can trust to select a firewall for you, handle the settings and configuration, and other vitals the process implies. Here’s how it usually works:
- We receive an inquiry regarding your firewall security needs and meet to discuss them
- We outline the in-scope firewall work to be done
- OutsourceIT.PRO’s team conducts firewall and network audits
- We put together and sign an agreement on the terms, including the deadlines, services to be delivered, areas of responsibility, and payment terms
- Our firewall expert team starts executing your project as scheduled, documenting all firewall modifications
FIREWALL SELECTION
PRICING
OutsourceIT.PRO offers several firewall selection pricing options you can choose from:
NEED AN ESTIMATION?
As a start, feel free to fill out this short form to get an approximate firewall cost estimation.
