Now that most businesses have migrated to cloud infrastructure, the potential attack surface for their data is larger than it’s ever been.
To combat this problem, you need a firewall.
However, it’s important to evaluate your organization’s needs when choosing between:
Continue reading for a breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses of each firewall.
A traditional firewall protects applications and networks from malicious traffic. Typically, a firewall is software installed on a machine, and security professionals add security policies and rules to it based on threat intelligence and attack patterns.
Illegitimate traffic usually behaves differently than legitimate network traffic, and with predetermined rules, firewalls can detect unusual activity and block it without impeding legitimate traffic.
Firewall as a Service (FwaaS) is a cloud-based firewall solution that acts like a traditional firewall. Instead of being installed on a physical device, it runs on a cloud server and filters outgoing network traffic remotely.
This is important if you have a hybrid or cloud infrastructure. Because a traditional firewall installed on one device or network doesn’t cover the multitude of potential devices that could be accessing your data at any given time.
It’s not equipped to effectively protect your software. In contrast, FwaaS covers all potential access points and can be controlled from a central location.
Here are the biggest differences between traditional firewalls and FwaaS.
With a traditional firewall, your network is secured by software and hardware that are set up to protect your network from a wide range of outgoing traffic.
Using rules and URL filtering, the firewall can monitor, log, and block activity.
This works well for preventing attackers from accessing your environment, but protection is limited as firewalls are extremely complex and can be difficult to maintain effectively.
FwaaS, on the other hand, relies on third-party teams to deploy and monitor the firewall. These teams leverage their expertise to deliver packet inspection, intrusion detection, improved network control, and strong access management in addition to a standard firewall’s basic traffic-blocking capabilities.
The infrastructure within an organization is significantly lower because the firewall has been outsourced.
The protection can be deployed without demanding substantial infrastructure investment.
FwaaS is more flexible than a traditional firewall as it relies on cloud infrastructure and can be deployed anywhere at any time. Your business scales up or down as needed, and because FwaaS is hosted by a provider, you will not have to change anything about your infrastructure.
The FwaaS provider can offer additional (or fewer) resources to assist with scaling.
While this will likely increase your monthly bill, it costs much less than building out more infrastructure to keep up with your organization’s growth.
Traditional firewalls are your own creation, which means you and your security team are responsible for:
This also means you have total control of the rules that are in place and the traffic that the firewall permits or blocks.
FwaaS still offers some control, including the ability to make or fine-tune rules and view (and respond to) access anomalies, much of the daily management is left to the provider. For many organizations, this is a net benefit. The provider takes care of managing the firewall, enforcing your access control rules, and assembling all of the access data; and you respond to anomalies and potential threats as needed.
Most of the time, this works seamlessly, but there can be some issues if something disrupts your provider’s operations, which is not an issue with a traditional firewall.
FwaaS comes with a recurring fee, typically billed monthly. This means you’ll have predictable costs, but they may seem high.
However, when you compare the monthly costs over a few years to the initial investment, hardware replacement, and software licensing fees that a traditional firewall requires, you may find that FwaaS costs less to maintain.
If you have a very small business and do not utilize the cloud for data storage, you likely don’t need a FwaaS cloud-based solution. FwaaS is best for organizations that have multiple devices in multiple places accessing the cloud.
However, if your business has migrated to or was built on cloud platforms, you need security solutions that can account for all of the challenges endemic to cloud-based infrastructure.
Especially for businesses that use the cloud for hosting web applications or storing data that needs to be accessed remotely, protecting against unauthorized access is essential. A good FwaaS solution will provide:
Relying on traditional firewalls works best for environments that are contained within a single office space. However, for environments with off-premises infrastructure and cloud integration, FwaaS provides a more comprehensive solution and improves visibility within the ecosystem.
Individual firewalls protecting multiple devices and networks create information silos, but FwaaS integrates all of the data from all access points and presents it in a centralized location.
If you’re using the cloud for your business operations, a FwaaS offers more security and efficiency than a traditional firewall, and it is likely the better solution for both your cloud assets and your on-premises infrastructure.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you manage and maintain your firewall rules, access control, and data security, Perimeter81 is here to help.
Reach out to us to get started today.
