The Benefits of Next-Generation Firewalls

Since the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional internet firewall security has become less capable of adequately protecting corporate networks. The traditional firewalls provide protection based on ports, protocols, and IP addresses, which is less reliable and not feasible anymore due to the increase in web-based applications. Other than this, traditional firewalls are unable to manage the current complex security systems because of the increased number of device connections to the internet.

To overcome this security gap, the next-generation firewalls came into the picture. As a more advanced version of the traditional firewalls, the next-generation firewalls are deep-packet inspection firewalls. They move beyond port/protocol inspection and block to add application-level inspection and intrusion prevention and bring intelligence from outside the firewall.

The next-generation firewalls identify applications regardless of port, protocol, evasive techniques, or SSL encryption, providing real-time internet firewall security protection against a wide array of threats. Other than this, they provide increased security.

Benefits of next-generation firewalls

They are multi-functional

Along with the functionalities of traditional firewalls, the next-generation firewalls come with integrated intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion protection systems (IPS). These two add-on systems detect attacks based on traffic behavioral analysis, threat signatures, or anomalous activity, helping to perform deeper inspection and improve packet-content filtering of network traffic up to the application layer.

They help in visibility and user identification.

The next-generation firewalls enable visibility and control of network activity on a per-user basis by linking IP addresses to specific user identities. This feature of next-generation firewalls increases the visibility of the person or thing that is responsible for all application, content, and threat traffic on the network, making it easier for organizations to take preventive steps.

They help in content identification.

To prevent data leakage and stop threats with detailed and real-time traffic inspection, the next-generation firewalls scan content. With content identification, it becomes easy for organizations to prevent threats, and filter URLs, files, and data. With one function, the next-generation firewalls offer multiple advantages.

They ensure threat protection and mitigation.

The next-generation firewalls come with antivirus and malware protection that is upgraded automatically whenever new threats are discovered. Also, the firewalls minimize the avenues of attack by limiting the applications running on them. This isn’t possible with traditional firewalls. The next-generation firewalls scan all the approved applications for hidden vulnerabilities or confidential data leaks and mitigate risks from unknown applications, reducing bandwidth usage from useless traffic.

They have advanced policy control

Unlike traditional firewalls, the next-generation firewalls allow granular levels of control. This allows the employees of the organizations to access the good aspects of the application while blocking all access to the bad aspects of an application. In traditional firewalls, the employees were allowed to access an application that is deemed to be good but not other applications, even though they have food aspects.

The next-generation firewalls are beneficial for your organization. So, it’s worth switching from traditional firewalls to next-generation firewalls.