What is a Firewall | 7 reasons why businesses need Network Firewall Security?

As the number of cybercrime cases grows daily, protecting your company’s assets and data is more critical than ever, which is why a good firewall with a strong configuration is required. A firewall with recommended security configuration keeps harmful and disruptive forces out while controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic based on security parameters which you can manage and fine-tune as per the organization’s requirements.

What is Firewall?

A firewall is a network security protection layer that analyses network communications and determines whether specific traffic should be allowed or blocked based on a set of security rules. A firewall might be hardware, software, or a combination of both.

For more than 25 years, firewalls have served as network security’s first line of defense that provides a barrier between safe, regulated internal systems and recognized & untrustworthy external networks like the Internet. 

In both business and personal situations, firewalls are essential to network security. A rudimentary firewall is present in most operating systems. Using a third-party firewall program, on the other hand, gives superior protection.

Top 7 Reasons Why Business Needs a Firewall

1. A firewall provides a strong defense against hackers.

A glance at some of the most recent news reveals that the Internet is plagued by a hacking pandemic, wreaking havoc on businesses all around the globe. The worst part is that hackers, fraudsters, and thieves are constantly breaking into networks. Meanwhile, hackers are slipping into your network and creating trouble that you will not be aware of until it’s too late.

Hackers, on the other hand, find it extremely difficult to breach a firewall due to its strength. The power of a firewall makes it extremely difficult for hackers to breach it. If a hacker or scammer comes across a firewall, they will usually stop trying and move on. Whether they do or not, your data and network will be significantly safer with a firewall than without one. For this reason, most computer experts consider firewalls to be a network’s first line of defense against criminals. Like hackers and con artists, firewalls operate around the clock, preventing unauthorized access.

2. A firewall defends your network, data, and employees against malicious activity.

Applications are used to control all computer networks. Networks, corporations, and individuals can interact globally due to these computer applications. But it also has certain disadvantages. To begin with, it can introduce unwanted bugs into the network, block your servers and waste your resources. Second, hackers can use malicious applications to get access to your network and hide computer viruses, spam, worms, and other dangerous software from your eyes. These harmful applications has the potential to harm your network and provide hackers and criminals access to your company’s important information.

The firewall will secure your network by examining every piece of application that enters the system and finding the efforts to penetrate the system inappropriately or illegally. Errors in the network vulnerabilities are blocked, ensuring that the systems and data on your network are secure. In addition to boosting network security, a firewall may detect and prevent harmful applications. A firewall may also memorize dangerous apps, block them and improve network security.

3. Firewalls allow you to control the content that enters your office via the Internet.

Different organizations experience a decline in productivity due to inattentive, distracted, or otherwise unproductive workers. Your business loses money every minute an employee is on the clock but not working.

Ironically, one of the leading causes of this issue is the Internet. Even though the Internet enables your business to function, it can also be utilized in various unproductive ways. For instance, when employees browse the Internet, chat with friends on social media, or view non-work-related content, they waste their most valuable resource: human capital.

However, with a firewall, you can quickly determine which websites can and cannot be accessed if you desire to restrict access to particular social networking websites. For instance, if you wanted to block access to various social media sites, you could easily program your firewall. It is a simple method for increasing productivity by reducing the temptation to perform other tasks.

4. Firewalls can assist you in setting bandwidth limits.

As stated earlier, the Internet can cause decreased productivity when employees spend non-work-related time online. However, this non-business-related usage can consume valuable bandwidth, posing a second problem. Consider bandwidth as a highway. When there are fewer cars on the road, you can travel significantly faster. However, when there are many people on the road, it causes congestion, which in turn causes everyone to slow down and, in some cases, stop. 

Bandwidth is comparable. If only a few people are using it, data transfer rates are high, and everyone can complete their tasks. However, if an excessive number of employees use the network, it becomes congested, and speeds decrease significantly. It is especially true if employees use the Internet for non-work-related content, such as videos, photos, and music.

Therefore, you can use a firewall to restrict the bandwidth utilized for non-work-related internet activity. It doesn’t altogether disable it, but it does allow you to set restrictions on how much time you may spend watching movies, listening to music, or looking at images, among other things. As a result, valuable bandwidth and quicker speeds may be set aside for work-related activity alone.

5. Firewalls can help in providing secure remote access when employees are working remotely.

Today’s businesses are increasingly dependent on employees who can work remotely, implying they are not required to report to a central office. Protecting your network can become significantly more challenging once an employee leaves your perimeter.

The communication between your data center and your remote workers is secured by using a firewall. It prevents unauthorized users from interfering with or accessing data that your company and remote employees are sharing.

6. Firewall Protects your Cloud-based Data.

Many businesses store their information in the cloud instead of on a server at their location. It’s a great financial move, but your data will be on a server you don’t control. That means you must trust the IT resources you use to store your cloud data, which is always a risk.

But the risk is significantly reduced when you have a strict firewall policy. It’s a lot like how a firewall protects remote worker connections: every piece of data repeatedly checks to ensure no lousy code gets through.

7. Monitoring Your Network 24/7, a Firewall protects it from unwanted intrusions.

It’s a fact that the average business owner does not have the time or resources to keep an eye on their network. Hiring someone to do it is an option, but it will increase your overall costs. Even though this “employee” never sleeps, never breaks, and never calls in sick, a firewall protects you. A firewall is always in place to protect your network and valuable data. It can also perform several other practical tasks. There is no doubt that firewalls are the most dedicated workers you’ve ever encountered.

Types of Firewalls 

A software firewall controls traffic via port numbers and programs. In contrast, a concrete firewall is a piece of hardware located among your network and gateway.

Next-generation firewalls (NGFW)

An average network security appliance NGFW combines packet inspection with stateful inspection, as well as some form of packet sniffing (DPI), and other network security tools such as IDS/IPS, malware filtering, and antivirus.

Application-level gateway

The single point of entry and exit for the network is this form of device, which is technically a proxy and also is referred to as a proxy firewall. Application-level gateways filter packets based on a variety of factors, such as the HTTP request string, in addition to the service for which they are meant, as indicated by the destination port.

Packet Filtering Firewall

At intersections where equipment like routers and switches operate, packet filtering firewalls operate inline. These firewalls don’t route packets; instead, they check each one against a list of predetermined standards such as the permitted IP addresses, packet type, port number, and other information from the packet protocol headers.

Stateful multilayer inspection (SMLI) firewalls

State-aware devices track whether a packet is a part of an active TCP or other network sessions in addition to inspecting each packet. While providing better security than either circuit monitoring or packet filtering by themselves, this has a bigger negative impact on network performance.

How does a Firewall Protect Data?

Firewalls can assist in avoiding a variety of security threats by establishing protective filters across your network and devices. These can include the following:

Backdoors

While some apps are meant to be accessed remotely, others may contain defects that allow potential hackers to get access to and abuse the program for malevolent reasons via a “backdoor,” or a concealed mechanism to access and exploit the Software. 

Denial of service

This increasingly common sort of malware can cause a server to slow down or crash. Hackers use this approach by sending a request to access the server, which responds with an acknowledgment and tries to connect.

Macros

Macros are programs that may be performed by programs to combine several complex operations into a single executable rule. If a hacker gains access to your customers’ devices, they can use the programs to execute their macros.

Remote logins

Remote logins range in intensity, but they always pertain to someone connecting to your computer and manipulating it. They can be a beneficial tool for allowing IT experts to swiftly upgrade something on a particular device without having to be physically there, but they can also be exploited by bad actors to get access to sensitive information or even run malicious applications.

Importance and Benefits of Firewall

Companies must pay attention to securing their networks from external dangers as much of the corporate sector continues to be digital. A firewall is one approach to defend the systems from external attacks. But, as the circumstances change, so should our strategies for defending our businesses. The Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is the most recent form of digital security, combining the most remarkable aspects of classic technology with cutting-edge technology to deliver the best possible digital security.

The benefits of a Firewall are as follows:

1. Monitor network traffic

The flow of data into and out of your system may jeopardize the creation of operational possibilities. The firewall protects your system by monitoring and analyzing network traffic and applying pre-set rules and filters. 

2. Prevent virus attacks

A viral assault is the fastest way to bring your digital business to a halt. Every day, lots of new threats emerge, necessitating the implementation of suitable defensive measures to maintain the system healthy. 

3. Prevent hacking

Firewalls have become increasingly crucial as the number of data stolen and computer hijacking by criminals has increased, since they may prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to data, emails, systems, and other information.

4. Stop spyware

Preventing malware from obtaining access and infecting your system is a much-needed advantage in today’s data-driven society. Criminals will be able to get access to your system through more entry points as technologies become more complicated and powerful.

What Mistakes Organizations do After Purchasing Firewall

A firewall should be installed in every organization – it’s a vital component of network architecture, and it’s hard to establish efficient security protection without one.

A firewall, on the other hand, must be supplemented by specific firewall policies and processes that are owned and maintained by a professional. Your firewall is more likely to fail if you don’t take this extra step, leaving your network vulnerable to hackers, viruses, and other harmful traffic. Misconfiguration, not technology flaws, is to blame for 95% of all firewall breaches. This indicates that a firewall’s specs are inaccurate due to human mistakes or a lack of investigation.

Sharkstriker firewall monitoring and management service helps you to secure your organization’s network with full installation and configuration flexibility.