When you think of a firewall, the first thing that comes to mind is a little box that keeps the baddies out, and for the most part this is still true. However, today’s firewalls can provide so much more for your business.
Here, Luke Thrower, our Network and Security Analyst, looks at the Palo Alto range of physical firewalls that we provide, and what they can do.
Application aware
The biggest and most important development in next generation firewalls is that they’re ‘Application Aware’. This means that the firewall will be able to detect which application traffic is using over the network and will easily display that information to the admin. This makes protecting your business simpler than ever, creating a safer and more secure environment.
Built in URL filtering
Provided directly on the box, Palo Alto next generation firewalls can deliver robust URL filtering across your office. It will automatically detect websites’ categories, allowing you to block unwanted website types at the click of a button (for example – sports, gambling, shopping). In addition, Palo Alto’s next generation firewalls allow the creation of multiple access groups in a traffic light system, with members in the green group having more access than those in amber, allowing you to fine tune settings to work for you and your users.
Easy to use VPN
With remote working more commonplace than ever, it is imperative that you have access to an easy to use and effective VPN, to facilitate easy and secure network access. Palo Alto provides this with their Global Protect service. With a simple installer, and the ability to sync the logins with those of your domain account, this VPN is one of the easiest to set up and use, which reduces user frustration.
DNS security
Cybersecurity is one of the hottest topics in IT today, with the cybercrime industry valued at around $1 trillion in 2020. DNS-based attacks are becoming more prevalent, so it is essential that businesses have a solution in place. Palo Alto devices provide built in DNS security, so they’re able to detect and block known and unknown threats, as well as helping prevent hackers bypassing your security.
WildFire® Malware Protection
Unique to Palo Alto, WildFire® Malware Protection is a technology that provides real time protection against new threats using cloud-based analysis and machine learning. In other words, utilising these state-of-the-art technologies, Palo Alto is able to identify brand new threats, as they emerge, and update your company’s firewall faster than ever, helping to prevent zero-day attacks.
If you would like to know more about how next generation firewalls can help your business, please get in touch with us
