What is a Cloud Firewall?

In the past when fires were fought, people used traditional means like fire extinguishers and water hoses.

Translating this to the virtual world of computing — a cloud firewall is akin to the digital ‘fire extinguisher’ and ‘hose.’ It is a tool designed to stop, slow, or prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network.

It inspects incoming and outgoing traffic, based on predetermined security rules. They can be a standalone system or incorporated into other network components.

In technical words, it acts as a barrier between on-premises networks and external networks.

Cloud firewalls are often deployed in a ‘perimeter’ security model — where they act as the first line of defense against cyber threats. This includes protection against DDoS attacks, SQL injections, and cross-site scripting.

The Benefits of Using a Cloud Firewall

In this section, we’ll discuss the benefits of using a cloud firewall over traditional ones.

Scalability

Traditional firewalls can’t keep pace as your network grows — their hardware limitations bound them.

On the other hand, a cloud firewall can easily adapt and expand in line with your business needs. Because it’s cloud-based, scaling does not require any additional hardware investment or complex configurations.

Be it on-site installation, maintenance, or upgrading, cloud firewalls wipe out all those physical processes, saving you time and resources.

Availability

Unlike traditional firewalls that rely on singular hardware systems and can fail, cloud firewalls are designed for high availability. Their decentralization means that even if one part fails, the rest continue to operate, ensuring constant protection.

Being cloud-based, they can also balance the load during peak traffic times to prevent slowdowns or outages.

For instance — during an attack like DDoS when the traffic dramatically increases, a cloud firewall can distribute the traffic across multiple servers. This ensures that your systems remain accessible and functional.

Extensibility

Cloud-based firewalls are not just scalable and highly available — they are also highly extensible.

This means that you can easily integrate them with other security features or services — such as Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), and Secure Web Gateways (SWG) — to create a solid security system.

Release updates and patches can be applied automatically, ensuring that the security is always up-to-date.

Identity Protection

When it comes to identity protection, cloud firewalls reign supreme.

They can identify and control application access on a per-user basis. This means that if unauthorized access is attempted, it can be immediately identified and blocked, providing extra security to your sensitive information.

Along with that, they can also provide an audit trail so that attempted breaches can be traced back to their origins. This info is beneficial for investigating cyber crimes and strengthening your cybersecurity strategy in the long run.

Performance Management

Sometimes, it’s not just about blocking harmful traffic, but also about prioritizing useful traffic.

Cloud firewalls enable performance management by prioritizing network traffic and providing quality of service (QoS) capabilities.

This can be handy during peak usage times or when certain services require higher bandwidth.

For instance, a cloud firewall can prioritize the traffic for certain high-demand resources, ensuring uninterrupted access and excellent performance. As a result, end users experience less lag and appreciate better service.

Moreover, the firewall can be programmed to give a higher priority to certain types of workloads or specific applications, like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or video streaming services.

Secure Access Parity

Remote work is another area where cloud firewalls shine.

Cloud firewalls enable a consistent security policy across all locations and users, no matter where they’re accessing from. This ensures that remote workers are just as protected as on-site ones.

Also, you get comprehensive visibility and control over all network traffic, and thanks to their cloud nature — updates can be pushed globally.

Migration Security

Migration — in particular to the cloud — can be a risky process in terms of security. The necessity to move data from one place to another can expose it to potential threats. Cloud firewalls eliminate these concerns.

Due to their inherent design, they provide end-to-end security during data migration. The data is protected at the source, during transit, and at the destination. This ensures a secure and seamless cloud migration process.

It’s like having a secure convoy for your data as it travels.

Types of Cloud Firewalls

There are four major types of cloud firewalls which can be broadly categorized as — SaaS Firewalls/Firewall as a service (FWaaS), Next-generation Firewall (NGFW), Public Cloud Firewall, and Web Application Firewall (WAF).

SaaS Firewalls/Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)

SaaS Firewalls, or Firewall as a Service, operate directly in the cloud. Offering security as a service — they are a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solution.

• Flexibility: Being cloud-based, these firewalls can rapidly adapt to changes in network traffic and configuration.

• Scalability: FWaaS can comfortably scale up or down based on the needs without harming performance.

• Cost-effective: As a subscription-based service, FWaaS can be adjusted to fit any budget and eliminates the need for expensive hardware and software maintenance.

• Integrated approach: FWaaS offers a comprehensive, integrated approach to security, so you have complete visibility and control over network traffic and user activity.

• Ease of deployment: Require less administrative effort and minimize human error.

Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)

Next-Generation Firewalls represent the evolution in firewall technology, designed to go beyond traditional firewall functions.

• Deep packet inspection: NGFWs are capable of examining the payload of a packet, crucial for detecting advanced threats within seemingly legitimate traffic.

• Application awareness: NGFWs offer application-level control, significantly enhancing the granularity of security policies.

• Threat detection: Their advanced threat detection capabilities protect organizations from a broad range of attacks, including zero-day vulnerabilities.

• Integrated IPS: They feature an integrated Intrusion Prevention System that can identify and block potential security breaches, adding a layer of protection.

• User identification: Unlike traditional firewalls, NGFWs can identify users and devices, not just IP addresses. This helps in creating more targeted, effective security policies.

Public Cloud Firewall

Public cloud firewalls are built within public cloud infrastructures like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to provide a layer of security control.

• Seamless integration: These firewalls integrate seamlessly with other cloud services, infrastructure, and applications.

• Autoscaling: Being cloud-native, they can scale dynamically with the workload, managing a substantial increase in network traffic without compromising performance.

• Cloud-specific rulesets: These firewalls enable cloud-specific packet filtering, applying rules to cloud-native as well as hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

• Compatibility: Public Cloud Firewalls are compatible with the automatic deployment mechanisms of their respective cloud platforms. This compatibility reduces the overhead of manual configurations.

• Resilience: With a distributed, highly available architecture, they provide resilience — ensuring that the firewall is operational even if individual components fail.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A Web Application Firewall specifically protects web applications by filtering, monitoring, and blocking HTTP traffic that could exploit vulnerabilities in these applications.

• Web app protection: WAFs stop attacks targeting web applications, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and others.

• Custom policies: Customizable Policies in WAFs allow for tailored protection suited to the individual needs of every web application.

• Inspection: They offer a thorough inspection of HTTP/S traffic, ensuring no harmful requests reach the web applications.

• Bot control: WAFs can discern harmful bots from legitimate traffic, granting access only to authorized users and services.

• API security: Security for APIs against attacks such as DDoS, improving overall protection.

Using Cloud Firewall vs Other Network Security Approaches

How do cloud firewalls compare to other network security approaches? See how they compare to virtual firewall appliances, IP-based network security policies, and security groups.

Virtual Firewall Appliances

Despite brands like Cisco, Juniper, and Fortinet making a strong push for them, virtual firewall appliances don’t fit in a work environment that is heavily cloud-based.

• Not scalable: Virtual appliances have limitations in scaling. When traffic increases, they struggle to keep pace, affecting performance.

• Operational inefficiency: They require manual configurations and adjustments, which can lead to operational inefficiencies and potential mistakes.

• Limited visibility: They usually provide limited visibility into network traffic and, in some cases, can’t even offer granular control at the application level.

• Architectural complexity: These appliances often introduce architectural complexity, as they need to intercept and secure network traffic at different points.

• High cost: Acquiring, maintaining, and upgrading a virtual firewall appliance can be expensive, especially when compared to subscription-based cloud firewalls.

• Limited extensibility: Be it AWS transit gateways, Gateway Load Balancers, or VPC/VNet peering — virtual appliances usually struggle to integrate with these advanced cloud-native services.

IP-Based Network Security Policy

IP-based network security policies have traditionally been used in many organizations. However, they also have shortcomings when compared to cloud firewalls.

• Dynamic IP difficulties: These policies are primarily based on static IP addresses, triggering issues when dealing with dynamic IPs — such as those used in today’s highly scalable, distributed infrastructures.

• Granularity problems: IP-based policies offer less granular control over access to applications and data, compared to cloud firewalls.

• Security loopholes: Because they rely heavily on IP addresses for identification, they can be vulnerable to IP spoofing, creating potential security loopholes.

• Inefficient management: IP-based policies can be tedious to manage, especially when dealing with larger, more complex network infrastructures.

• Limited scalability: Like virtual appliances, IP-based policies struggle when it comes to handling a significant increase in network traffic.

• Dependency on IP reputation: These policies depend on the reputation of IP addresses, which can be unreliable and manipulated. Also, legitimate IP addresses can be compromised, creating a potential avenue for attacks.

Security Groups

Lastly, security groups, while being a crucial part of network security in a cloud-based environment, fall short compared to cloud firewalls on several fronts.

• Scope limitation: Security groups usually have a limited scope — often only applicable within a single instance or VPC. This might not be adequate for enterprises with large-scale or diverse cloud deployments.

• Manual administration: This can lead to potential errors and security risks, more so in large and complex environments.

• Lack of visibility: Security groups don’t provide comprehensive visibility into network traffic or robust logging and audit capabilities — both of which are fundamental for troubleshooting and regulatory compliance.

• Limited flexibility: Security groups lack the flexibility to adapt quickly to changes in network configuration or traffic patterns. This can hinder performance and affect user experience.

• Dependencies: Security groups are dependent on the underlying cloud service. This means that they can be impacted by any disruptions or changes to that service. So, the level of independence and control tends to be on the lower end.

It’s evident, compared to the other network security approaches, cloud firewalls provide superior flexibility, scalability, visibility, and control.

How does a Cloud-Based Firewall Fit into a SASE Framework?

SASE is a concept introduced by Gartner that stands for Secure Access Service Edge. It combines network security and wide area networking (WAN) capabilities in a single cloud-based service.

Cloud-based firewalls fit wonderfully into this framework as they provide network security enforcement. Below’s how.

• Unified security and networking: By integrating with other SASE components, cloud-based firewalls facilitate unified security and networking. They ensure that security controls and networking capabilities are not siloed but work together seamlessly.

• Location-agnostic: Being cloud-based, these firewalls offer location-agnostic security. This is important in a SASE framework which is designed to support securely connected, geographically-dispersed endpoints.

• Dynamic scaling: The dynamism of cloud-based firewalls aligns with the scalable nature of SASE. So, the security scales with network requirements.

• Policy enforcement: They provide efficient enforcement of security policies across a distributed network, aiding in consistent security compliance.

• Visibility and control: In a SASE framework, cloud-based firewalls offer enriched visibility and control over network traffic and user activity. This aids in improved threat detection and response times.

• Data protection: They provide encryption and decryption, protecting sensitive data transmitted across the network. This capability is pivotal for data protection in a SASE architecture.

• Fast deployment: Enjoy operational simplicity as they can be seamlessly deployed across multiple locations.

• Easier management: Management becomes easier as there is a single point of control allowing for unified threat management.

• Lower costs: Reduced capital expenditure as the need for on-premise hardware decreases significantly.

• Highly available: These firewalls offer high availability and resilience, adhering to the SASE principle of continual access and service regardless of location. Thus, enhancing the overall security posture in an ever-increasing remote work landscape.

Secure your network with firewall-as-a-service today!

Organizations across the globe are transitioning to a cloud-first strategy. Perimeter 81 can assist you in this journey. Our Firewall-as-a-Service model provides security, scalability, and simplicity that is unmatched in the industry. Learn more here!

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