3 Reasons to Consider Upgrading to a Next-Generation Firewall Today
Why Migrate to NGFWs Now
Businesses are living in a world of greater opportunities and danger than their pre-digitalisation predecessors ever did. In an age when every organization relies on mostly digital infrastructures, the big effort must be done also in cybersecurity. While traditional firewalls were once on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, they are no longer able to keep pace with the advanced strategies employed by today’s cyber threats. Enter Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) that, thanks to cutting-edge threat detection capabilities, can provide a level of protection not seen before and are now no longer the reserve of the lucky few—you need an NGFW. Below are three key reasons to consider upgrading to a next-generation firewall today.
Advanced Threat Detection and Prevention
Cyberattacks are becoming more common and sophisticated in the threat landscape of today. Legacy firewalls, designed to strictly restrict ingress and egress network traffic based on static security policies, increasingly fail to detect and block newer or more sophisticated threats.
Detecting Advanced Threats
Today’s generation of firewalls utilize a range of sophisticated detection capabilities and are capable to detect and respond to potential threats that would fall through the cracks of traditional firewalling. Some of these tools include:
- Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS): NGFWs use IPS to monitor and inspect network traffic more directly, and detect malicious behavior. They do not just sniff but instead block live threats.
- Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): While most the firewalls are operational at the OSI Layer 3 and Layer 4, DPI works much beyond that by analysing actual content of a packet i.e. data portion of the packet, and hence able to identify malicious activities which could pass as normal data flow if only header could be examined.
- Application Awareness: NGFWs extend beyond simple port and IP address filtering by providing application-level examination to understand and control the applications that are running on the network.
All-in-one Control and Insight
As well as being highly controlled in usage, one of the many benefits of using NGFWs. A new Netflix tool raises the visibility of security opportunities for systems administrators.
Common Policy Management: NGFWs enable policies to be set centrally across an IT environment, and ensure that updating security is painless.
- User Identity Awareness: NGFWs can identify users rather than only IPs, which enables more accurate policy and threat response.
A List of Successful Upgrades and Their Effect
NGFWs have been a step forward and businesses investing in them tend to feel that they have improved their security posture considerably. There are many examples, and these include the following.
Case Study: Small Retail Business
Perennial – Challenge: This was a retail company that had been dealing with escalating security threats in the form of attempted intrusions and malware infections. These were traditional firewall measure and increasingly outdated against the threats they faced.
Solution: Advanced IPS and DPI capabilities were obtained by moving to a next-generation firewall.
- Outcome: A significant decrease in accepted cyberattacks, which increased compliance with the related industry requirements and customer data protection.
Case Study: Financial Services Midsize Firm
Problem: Given the number of transactions that were occurring in this firm’s business daily, their current firewall was not as secure as it needed to be.
Solution: They were able to enforce the policies for them and transitioned to an NGFW solution that allowed customization, based on user identity and risk persona.
- Result: Banking applications with integrity and confidentiality of financial data were able to cope up with complex threats.
Pre Content with P J Networks
With firewalls being so central to the security of your IT network, investing in an upgrade to a next-gen firewall means you get value for money with ongoing protection for your business. But, there is a skill involved to do this upgrade. This is where it can be really useful to engage a reputable consultant such as P J Networks. With the experience of handling projects around it, you can go to P J Networks when choosing and implementing an NGFW solution is what you need.
P J Networks continues its mission to strengthen cybersecurity among the businesses, while eliminating the heavy upfront costs of doing so. In class, we propose renting the firewall router server enabling businesses to use state-of-the-art technology without investing in hardware. There are many advantages to renting:
- Cost-effective: Get top-level security and performance of NGFWs without the cost.
- Flexibility: Move to newer technologies as they are introduced, so that your training program and security standards can too.
- Expert Support: Benefit from continuous expert support throughout your rental, ensuring your firewall is best configured to match the requirements of your business.
The Way Forward
With that being said, the threats facing businesses change constantly as does the cybersecurity landscape in general. How Embracing The Next-Generation Firewall Will Do More Than Just Beef Up Your Security Posture. Introduced years ago, the next-generation firewall is now a massive part of any security environment. Maybe your business has already felt the bite of cyberattacks, or maybe you’re at a point where upgrading to an NGFW can be just as instrumental in beefing up your preventative measures.
Get in touch with P J Networks now for your free consultation to improve to the best firewall tech available. Your cyber A-Team is here to help guide you through the maze of noise and technological jazz hands so that your enterprise remains protected in a digital age. Purchasing an NGFW is not just a protective routine, but will preserve your business today and forever.
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