By Sonit Jain, CEO, GajShield Infotech
Implementing security during COVID-19 Pandemic has become essential as we see organizations increasingly adopt a work from home setup to continue their operations. Many organizations do not have security solutions implemented and are looking to implement them now. when it comes to choosing a firewall for your organization, there are plenty of options available out there.
While there is a general stack of features that almost all these firewalls share in common, there are some differences in their capabilities and specifications, making them advantageous for different enterprises based on their size, deployment type especially during COVID-19 outbreak, IT and cybersecurity expertise available to them, cybersecurity budget, and the extent of their reliance on their data and digital assets.
Let us take a look at three types of firewalls to consider to implement security during this pandemic.
1. Open-source firewalls
Open-source firewalls are firewalls that are free to use by individuals and organizations. Most open-source firewalls come with standard network protection features like packet filtering, unified threat management, etc. However, finding an open-source firewall that offers all the security and network services needed by modern-day enterprises can be hard. Also, configuring certain firewalls may require a certain amount of IT and cybersecurity know-how.
Thus, if you need a firewall for your small business do not require an extensive suite of features you can choose an open-source firewall until you scale up. Moreover, these firewalls are not equipped to handle the latest threats and situation where flexibility and adaptability are needed.
2. Virtual firewalls
Virtual firewalls are commercially available firewalls that offer extensive functionality to enterprises, from basic packet filtering and VPN services to advanced email security, data leak prevention, enterprise cloud solution to secure roaming users and more. These firewalls are often cloud-based and do not require the installation of a physical firewall appliance. Instead, these firewalls can be downloaded and used in the form of software applications. They are ideal for all business enterprises that are stepping into cloud infrastructure and have a vast and distributed environment and have a large number of devices and connections. They are easy to configure, update, and maintain.
A virtual firewall is the best option for situations like the amidst of corona pandemic where a physical appliance cannot be deployed but an executable application version that does not require a physical appliance but works on the existing data center, cloud setup or a local server to provide quick and reliable long term security. These forms of firewall are as powerful as the physical appliance and accommodate all the security solutions that a physical firewall has to offer.
3. Appliance-based firewalls
Software firewalls are hosted on the cloud or saved locally on devices, and hence in order to work, they can use the enterprise’s hardware resources and network bandwidth. This can especially be the case when the enterprise grows beyond a certain size resulting in the need for large, complex enterprise networks conducting massive volumes of data. Appliance based firewalls can be used in these cases as they come with the hardware capabilities to handle large volumes of data. Large enterprises can use commercial appliance-based firewalls to protect all their digital assets without impacting network performance. These hardware appliances have their own and dedicated reconfigurable ports with expandable slots in various configuration.
In order to get comprehensive protection for your growing enterprise network commercial firewalls, either virtual or appliance-based will be necessary. Both virtual and appliance-based firewalls can have proprietary features such as contextually intelligent data security and advanced email security, which can handle all your cybersecurity needs without slowing down your operations.