Building a Secure Cloud Network with FWaaS: Step-by-Step Guide

To implement firewalls as a service effectively, you should already have a good understanding of your:

• Network security requirements
• Network architecture

…if not, prioritize assessing those. 

Once you know what you need, you can easily configure your FWaaS solution to your needs and then run security tests to confirm everything works. Although you need to continue managing and monitoring over time, we’ll help you cover your bases with our firewall and automated monitoring.

Quick Takeaways

• Measure twice, cut once: Have a clear understanding of your needs and security requirements at the outset. Winging network security never works out well.
• Trust no one: Zero-trust environments, based on the principle of least privilege, go a long way toward reducing risk and minimizing damage from successful breaches. 
• Configure carefully: When you set up your FWaaS solution, be sure that you’re accounting for access control, firewall rules, advanced security settings, and encryption. 
• Know your local compliance regulations. Be sure to review your region’s laws to ensure that you customize your security rules to match the requirements, as necessary.

Assessing Your Network Security Requirements

There are a lot of ways to customize FWaaS that you should consider based on identifying your security needs – and here’s how to assess them.

• Identify assets: You need to protect every asset within your cloud environment, such as applications, data, and services. Be sure that you have the full inventory so that nothing is missed during implementation.
• Understand your traffic flows: Traffic goes to and from the internet and your network, accesses the cloud and any cloud-hosted applications you have and travels across on-premises environments. Knowing how this outgoing traffic moves and typical pathways is essential.  
• Determine your compliance requirements: You may have specific compliance laws that you must follow, which could influence the features you need from FWaaS. 

Designing the Network Architecture

Here’s how to design your network architecture to successfully implement FWaaS.

• Plan your network segmentation: Part of access control with FWaaS is building protective measures into your network to prevent unauthorized access to a wide range of sensitive information. Create a virtual network architecture that segments your cloud environment into zones, such as public and private, to apply tailored security policies.
• Define access control lists (ACLs): To manage what traffic is allowed or blocked between these segments, you will need to know who needs to access which segments. Access control will prevent that marketing manager from viewing or interacting with developer data, which will, in turn, prevent anyone impersonating this employee from accessing that data. 

Configuring the FWaaS

Here are the three steps for configuring FWaaS:

• Set up the firewall rules: Only necessary users should be able to access a particular segment. All other traffic should be blocked, and unusual activity from authorized users should be flagged – which can greatly improve the security of cloud applications. 
• Enable advanced security features: Intrusion prevention system, URL filtering, and anti-malware scanning are examples of useful features, but carefully evaluate your needs and enable others as needed. 
• Perform deep packet inspection (DPI): This advanced technique examines the content of data packets, including encrypted traffic, for malicious activity. While DPI can be highly effective, be aware of potential privacy implications and performance overhead.
• Implement SSL/TLS inspection: Enabling decryption and encrypted traffic inspection can help spot hidden cyber threats and make FWaaS more effective.

Testing and Deployment

Here’s how to conduct testing and deployment of your FWaaS solution. 

• Conduct thorough testing: While FWaaS comes with default settings that can simplify configuration and setup, you need to customize settings and scope to ensure that it protects all of your assets. To know that the firewall configurations meet your security policies and do not disrupt legitimate traffic, test your FWaaS solution before you deploy.
• Deploy the FWaaS solution: Now that you have completed all of the preparation, setup, and initial testing, you can deploy FWaaS. Monitor for any issues during the rollout.
• Validate the setup: Perform vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify any potential security gaps and check again periodically to detect new vulnerabilities that may crop up.

Ongoing Management and Monitoring

Here’s how to perform ongoing management and monitoring of your FWaaS.

• Regularly review and update firewall rules: Zero-day attacks aren’t going anywhere, so keep an eye out for potential threats and update your cloud firewall rules as needed. Review the rules when you alter your environment as well.  
• Monitor network traffic: FWaaS is a cloud service that provides a centralized view of all of your assets and activity so you can regularly review traffic and activity. Address any alerts generated by the FWaaS to quickly identify and respond to potential security incidents.
• Ensure continuous compliance: Regulations change, so update your rules according to any new regulations and standards. Keep FWaaS configurations aligned with compliance requirements at all times. 

Create a Bulletproof Security Strategy with Perimeter 81

Using FWaaS is a great way to keep your private network and applications secure without negatively impacting your legitimate traffic. Perimeter 81 offers an FWaaS solution that provides:

• Automated monitoring and alerts
• Access control
• Global Gateways
• Rapid deployment

…and other tools to maximize your security. 

Although threats are becoming more and more complex, correct configuration, customized settings, and planning can augment your FWaaS implementation, block malicious traffic – and keep your corporate network safe. 

Get a FREE demo to stay secure right now.

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