Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW): Are They the Future of Business Security?

Companies have to deal with advanced levels of cyberattacks. What was once powerful has now become insufficient by the latest deception of malicious attacks. A shift in the paradigms of company security is therefore necessary. Then comes the broader and smarter defense family offered by the NGFW beyond limited predecessor-level capabilities. Are these NGFWs actually the business security of the future? Let us discover a little more about NGFWs, their feature sets, and why they are worth having on the must-have list of every enterprise.

The Evolution of Firewalls

In understanding the significance of NGFWs, let’s take note of the evolution of firewall technologies.

A traditional firewall primarily operates at Layers 3 and 4 of the OSI model (Network and Transport layers), scanning all traffic by source/destination IP addresses and ports. These actions would be very successful against more primitive threats, but lack contextual understanding that would have enabled them to detect and disable more advanced attacks that usually have the application layer (Layer 7) involved.

With cyber threats evolving, they are also targeting specific applications with malware that was hidden in apparently harmless traffic, and APTs, traditional firewalls have lost popularity. That’s when NGFWs have emerged as the answer to this security gap, with increased features and deeper inspection

Some of the primary features and capabilities that set NGFWs apart include:

Application Control and Awareness: Firewalls handle traffic by protocol and port numbers. NGFWs, however, can identify and manage applications regardless of the port on which they are operating. These fine-grained controls provide organizations with the option of having policies based on specific applications and thereby allow them to defend their environment further and improve productivity. For instance, an NGFW may permit access to a business-critical cloud app but deny file-sharing programs, which are data-leakage risks.

Integrated Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): In some cases, NGFWs come with integrated IPS capabilities that examine the traffic within a network for malicious activities and identify vulnerabilities. The IPS can counteract and neutralize such attacks as buffer overflows, SQL injections, and cross-site scripting in real-time. Installation and management of an IPS integrated with the firewall are significantly easier than a stand-alone IPS appliance.

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): NGFWs also offer DPI, an examination of the true content of network packets rather than their headers. DPI enables the blocking of threats hidden within legitimate-looking traffic, for example, malware and advanced attacks. DPI basically provides the network administrator with a far more detailed level of visibility into network traffic than stateful packet inspection-based firewalls.

SSL/TLS Inspection: A lot of internet traffic remains encrypted using SSL/TLS. While encryption ensures confidentiality, criminals hide behind the encryption, too. NGFWs generally provide support for the capacity to decrypt and inspect SSL/TLS encrypted traffic to identify and prevent threats that would otherwise go undetected.

User-Identity Awareness: Certain NGFWs have a feature that integrates with directory services like Active Directory in the implementation of visibility and control with respect to user identity, in addition to IP addresses. This supports fine-grained policies such as granting explicit users or groups access to given applications or resources.

Threat Intelligence Integration: Through cloud-based threat intelligence feeds, a number of NGFWs can remain informed about the most recent threats, vulnerabilities, and actors. This proactive prediction makes the NGFWs effective in detecting and preventing new threats.

The Increasing Demand for NGFWs in Enterprise Security

As the level of complexity and number of cyber threats grow, NGFWs remain a fundamental component in business security solutions. Some of the reasons why include:

Attacks Get Sophisticated: Modern attacks are now accompanied by numerous vectors, hit numerous layers of the network, and use more concealed techniques to evade. The majority of the conventional firewalls and other security functions fall short in this regard. NGFWs are on top with multi-layered security design and deep packet inspection for improved protection.

Web Application and Cloud Service Boom: Businesses increasingly rely on web applications and cloud services, which bring new attack surfaces. NGFWs with application awareness and control, as well as web filtering and occasionally Web Application Firewall (WAF) features, are critical to protecting these environments.

Remote Work and Distributed Networks: The classic network perimeters have faded due to the remote work trend and the use of distributed networks. NGFWs would enable the same set of security policies to be applied throughout the distributed environments, enabling the remote users and branch offices to be protected effectively. Cloud-based NGFW implementations also influence cloud infrastructure security.

Changing Regulatory Environment: Different regulations demand strict security control for protecting sensitive information. NGFWs are able to assist an organization in fulfilling such compliance requirements by providing in-depth visibility of traffic, intrusion prevention, and application control.

Can NGFWs solve your problems?

NGFWs have characteristics and benefits way beyond what a classic firewall can provide, and thus, they are an integral part of any security solution. The second half of the security plan is a strategy with many layers, where each layer uses other security tools and techniques.

Consequently, NGFWs excel highly at defending perimeters, managing traffic entering and exiting the network, with deep inspection. However, it is not capable of giving all the specialized protection that solutions like EDR provide at the device level or WAFs within the space of the web application.

Therefore, business security in the future likely means an organized and aligned security environment where NGFWs are the center on which other security technology and good security practices are built.

The Future of NGFWs

NGFWs are continually changing; vendors are continuously in search of new additions and enhancements to address growth and change in the threat environment. Some of the leading trends driving the future of NGFWs are:

AI and Machine Learning: Enhancing threat detection, automating responses, and providing predictive security analytics by leveraging AI and Machine Learning.

Improved Cloud Security: Increased cloud integration with GAIA and the emergence of cloud-native NGFW products.

Zero Trust Architectures: The role of NGFWs in implementing Zero Trust principles through greater visibility and control (granular + continuous monitoring).

Improved Performance and Scalability: Developments in hardware, code, and configuration enable NGFWs to better accommodate faster network speeds and the ever-increasing amounts of traffic.

Conclusion: A Pillar of Future Business Security

In light of their capabilities today, the need to address an ever-evolving threat landscape, and the increasing dependence on cloud services and web applications, Next-Generation Firewalls will put organizations in a good position and undoubtedly represent a pillar of the future of business security. There is unquestionably no other security device that provides the visibility into network traffic and activity, with rich capabilities to handle modern cyber threats.

Nevertheless, organizations will need to be mindful that NGFWs are just one component of an overall cybersecurity posture. A comprehensive approach will require a blend of technologies, processes, and people. Organizations will need to deploy and manage NGFWs as part of a larger security ecosystem if they expect to stand a chance against the growing number of cyber threats and cultivate a more secure future.