Firewalls are an essential security component when it comes to keeping your network safe. Like the name suggests, firewalls act as a barrier, or wall, between your secure network and unsecure networks such as the internet. Firewalls also provide useful information like your system’s vulnerabilities to different kinds of cybersecurity threats and who might have an eye on your business. But as the threat landscape evolved, firewall technology has evolved as well. Today, there are a few different types of firewalls. But broadly speaking, they fall into two categories: traditional and managed.
What Is a Traditional Firewall?
Traditional firewalls are hardware or software devices designed to block threats and monitor the traffic in and out of a network. This traffic is controlled based on a few factors like destination IP address, source IP address, port, and protocol. These firewalls have basic features such as:
- Stateful inspection, where instead of isolated packets, traffic is defined as flow. Decisions can be made on the behaviors, and rules can be applied to the traffic flow.
- Virtual Private Network (VPN) offers a safe entry for the network when systems or users traverse an untrusted or public network. Firewalls can end the connection initiated by suspicious sources on users’ behalf.
What Is a Managed Firewall?
A managed firewall service is specifically offered by qualified managed security services providers (MSSPs) to supervise your network traffic and to prevent security risks. While the functionality of managed and traditional firewalls are similar, the difference is moreso surrounding the management of the technology involved. Monitoring the traffic allows the service provider to understand what the network landscape generally looks like, so anything unusual can be easily identified and rectified.
The managed firewall professionals who monitor your network also provide reporting and analysis as part of the service package. Most managed firewall services include web content filtering (to block access to malicious websites) and application control (to block applications to maximize employee productivity).
The purpose of a managed firewall is to shield your company’s confidential data, internal systems, and network against malicious access and intruders. While a managed firewall isn’t more robust than a traditional firewall in and of itself, a Managed Firewall is going to be more robust if your firewall isn’t being maintained correctly by your internal IT teams. That is where VPLS Managed Firewall services come in.
Why Do You Need a Managed Firewall?
Firewalls are crucial to securing network traffic including the flow of sensitive data. They are also necessary for compliance mandates like HIPAA, SSAE, IDS, ISAE, and PCI DSS. Managing a firewall requires technical expertise and can become costly for large organizations quickly. Organizations that are interested in better data breach prevention and closing data security gaps are likely to benefit using a managed firewall service.
A managed firewall provides maximum protection to block modern cybersecurity threats. Here are some of the capabilities that a firewall can offer to your business:
- Application awareness and control to identify and block risky applications
- Integrated intrusion prevention
- Upgrade paths to include future data feeds
- Threat intelligence sources
- System to address changing security threats
Don't Leave Vulnerabilities In Your Network:
Get VPLS Managed Firewall Services
Your modern business needs modern protection. The cyber threat landscape is rapidly evolving each day as technology advances, and cyber criminals are becoming more ruthless in achieving their objectives. VPLS offers managed firewall services, providing multiple layers of security for your network and company as a whole.
As your managed security partner, we take the responsibility away from your personnel, and let your staff focus on what they do best. To learn more about our managed security and firewall services, please call us at (888) 365-2656 or write to us online.
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