An essential and fundamental layer of security that proves to be a barrier between the outside world and your private network is a firewall. These architectures have been transforming tremendously from first-generation firewalls to stateless to next-gen firewalls over the past decades.
And, that’s the reason organizations have the flexibility of choosing several firewall types. These may be application-level gateways, circuit-level, or stateful inspection firewalls. What’s even better is that enterprises have the ease of having multiple types of firewalls for comprehensive and deep-layer security solutions.
Firewall-What is it?
A firewall is a security tool that easily monitors the incoming/outgoing network traffic for detecting and blocking the malicious packers of data. Know that these packets are based on predefined rules, allowing only the legitimate traffic users to enter the network.
Organizations can either implement these as hardware, software, or even both. Thus, firewalls are your first line of defence against attackers, malware, and viruses, which pave a path to your organization’s internal systems and network.
What are the Several Firewalls and Architectures?
There are around eight firewalls types, which come with different uses. Also, your choice of a firewall depends upon why you need to use it and the type you need for your enterprise. However, before selecting a firewall for your business, it is vital to indulge in Network Security consulting to ensure you’re making a sound decision.
Below-mentioned are some of the most popular types of firewalls. Read on to know how these might be useful for your business:
- Packet- Filtering Firewalls:
One of the oldest types of firewalls is packet-filtering. The makers have kept their design in a manner that creates checkpoints at switches or routers individually. Their work is to scrutinize data packets that come through and do not inspect the contents.
If the incoming information is suspicious, the firewall will block its network entry. Know that this simple firewall doesn’t cause much impact on the network performance.
- Circuit- Level Gateways:
These firewalls are very similar to packet-filtering firewalls. Know that these are quick and easy to check, approve/ deny the traffic. What’s even better is that these don’t depend heavily on resources. And their work is to verify the control protocol for transmission.
Also, it doesn’t scrutinize direct packets. Thus, there is always a risk for the malware to get through. Network security experts don’t recommend using it for protecting your business.
- Software Firewalls:
Local devices find the installation of these firewalls. These are ideal because they tend to create an essential, purposeful, and in-depth defense path. Know that it is not easy to maintain a firewall on one device. So, you generally require more than one firewall for an asset.
- Hardware Firewalls:
Hardware firewalls make use of physical appliances. Also, these function similarly to the traffic router. Know that these packets cause interception to the data packets well before they’re connected to the central network server.
However, a loophole is that this malware can easily bypass these. And, that’s certainly not what you wish your firewall to do.
- Cloud Firewalls:
Cloud solutions, also famous under the name FaaS are the “firewalls as a service”. Know that these firewalls work in sync with the proxy ones.
And an exemplary benefit is that these evolve with your enterprise. Their primary work is to filter more significant traffic amounts away from malicious data.
The Verdict- The Best Firewall for your Organization’s Needs
After going through different firewalls, you may be confused, especially when you decide on your business. Thereby, the best thing would be to determine your business needs and go for several firewalls to secure your defense level.
Once you’re aware of your business needs, it’ll be easy to decide which firewall works the best for your business.