What Sets Next-Generation Firewalls Apart From Traditional Firewalls?

Uploaded on 2024-07-30 in FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-IT & Telecoms

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While traditional firewalls have been a mainstay of network security for decades, next-generation firewalls (NGFW) have emerged as a more comprehensive solution.

But what exactly sets NGFWs apart from their traditional counterparts?

In this article, we address the definitions of both traditional and next-generation firewalls and how the latter plays an important role in securing business information.

What Are Traditional & Next-Generation Firewall Technologies?

A traditional firewall acts as a barrier between trusted internal networks and untrusted external networks, using packet filtering to control traffic based on IP address and port. Though initially efficient, this stateful inspection alone is no longer sufficient to defend against modern cyber attacks that exploit vulnerabilities at the application layer.

Introducing the next-generation firewall: an advanced security solution that goes beyond traditional port and protocol inspection. It offers deep-packet inspection, application-level scrutiny, and intrusion prevention, while integrating external intelligence to enhance its effectiveness.

Key Advantages Of NGFWs

Application awareness and control: NGFWs provide visibility into the applications running on the network, enabling granular access control policies. Administrators can identify, categorize, and control apps regardless of port, protocol, or encryption.

Intrusion prevention: Integrated intrusion prevention systems (IPS) in NGFWs perform deep packet inspection to detect and block known and unknown threats, including malware and targeted attacks. Threat intelligence is continuously updated.

User and device identity: By integrating with directories like Active Directory and LDAP, NGFWs can enforce identity-based policies and map network activity to specific users and devices. This is crucial for regulatory compliance and incident response.

SSL decryption: NGFWs can decrypt SSL/TLS-encrypted traffic for full inspection, preventing threats from hiding in encrypted streams. Flexible policy controls allow decrypting only specific traffic to ensure privacy and compliance.

Scalable performance: Purpose-built NGFWs leverage specialized hardware and software to deliver high throughput and low latency, even with all security services enabled. They can scale to meet the needs of demanding enterprise networks.

Centralized management: Unified management consoles provide a single pane of glass to centrally configure and monitor all NGFW devices and security policies. This simplifies operations, reduces complexity, and improves overall security posture.

While traditional firewalls still play an important role in layered defense, they are no longer enough on their own. As cyber criminals employ more evasive and stealthy tactics, organizations need the advanced capabilities of NGFWs to detect and prevent threats across the entire attack surface - from the network perimeter to the endpoint.

Investment Decision: Evaluating Key Considerations

When evaluating NGFW solutions, key considerations include:

Breadth and depth of application and threat intelligence

Ease of deployment and management

Performance and scalability to meet current and future needs

Integration with existing security infrastructure and tools

Total Cost Of Ownership

By understanding the differences between traditional firewalls and NGFWs, and carefully assessing their unique requirements, organizations can select and implement the right firewall technology to strengthen their overall security posture and better defend against cyber attacks.

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