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How Much Protection Are You Really Getting From Your Firewall?
May 7, 2020
Having a firewall to block threats is the start of having a good key defense against cyberattacks. But it’s too common for businesses to think their legacy firewall is enough, especially when 73% of hackers say that perimeter security methods such as firewalls are now irrelevant or obsolete.
73% of hackers say that perimeter security methods such as firewalls are now irrelevant or obsolete.
Phishing, ransomware, cross-site scripting, and botnets are all developed to bypass firewalls. So it’s essential to understand the protection level of your current firewall and determine if an upgrade is needed. To stay current with today’s threat landscape, check to see if your firewall has:
Deep Packet-Inspection: evaluates the contents of an IP packet (both header and data portions), looking for abnormalities, and then taking action based upon what is found (i.e., allow, block, re-direct).
Content Filtering: establishes policies to allow or deny access to Internet hosts, leveraging a large, frequently updated database of rated IP addresses, URLs, geographies, and websites.
Intrusion Protection: proactively denies network traffic if an IP packet matches the profile of a known security threat.
Malware Protection: safeguards your network from highly sophisticated and advanced malware attacks with continuous analysis and tracking of files.
Real-time Network Visibility: provides an intuitive dashboard to securely access the firewall to observe what is happening now, which traffic is most prevalent, which users are most active, which applications are using most of the bandwidth, and if there have been any alerts.
A security breach in 2020 could cost over $150 million.
It may be hard to justify investment in a new firewall when traffic is moving to and from the network. However, with experts averaging the cost of a data security breach to be over $150 million in 2020, a security breach is still more expensive in terms of direct costs, business disruption, and reputational damage.
Properly implementing a firewall — and applying the protective measures to ensure compliance with your firm’s risk tolerance — are issues that can be beyond a company’s internal resources. That’s why partnering with a managed service security provider is the best line of defense a company can take. Updating your firewall is just one of the first layers of protection needed. Having comprehensive cybersecurity, including a trusted managed security service partner, is a valuable and efficient component of your company’s cyber defense plan. Read more about Lightpath's suite of managed security services.