We have all heard about the term firewall; it protects a network from unknown threats. But these days, with the evolution of technology, firewalls have become more advanced. Earlier, traditional firewalls were used, which did not have the capability to secure the network efficiently, but now, with the help of a next-generation firewall, the cyberthreats have decreased, making it easier for the organization to secure their networks from attacks. With digitalization, cyberthreats have been at a peak, and this is why it is necessary for all businesses to install a next-generation firewall. Now, businesses have shifted themselves from an on-premises server to a cloud server, and on a cloud server, there are also chances of cyberattacks. But to protect the cloud server network, deploying a Next Generation Firewall is also important, though a cloud infrastructure also includes a firewall within itself, which protects them from cyberattacks.
In this blog, we will be discussing everything related to cloud firewalls, and we will recommend you read this blog till the end to know which types of cloud-based firewalls should be deployed.
What is Cloud Firewall?
A cloud firewall is like a traditional firewall, but the major difference is that a cloud firewall is installed in a cloud, and these firewalls act as a barrier between an organization’s network and cyberthreats. The cloud firewall protects all the cloud components, such as cloud CRM, cloud databases, and the email cloud, from vulnerable cyberthreats. This shows that a cloud firewall is a security product.
Why do you need Cloud Firewall?
A cloud server includes all the essential files and documents; in short, all the business-related data is stored there, and it becomes very necessary to secure a cloud from cyberthreats. A cloud firewall is advanced, and it protects business data by blocking cyberattacks that may enter a virtual workspace. It provides 24/7 cybersecurity for all the cloud-based components.
Main functions of the cloud firewalls are:
- Detects all kinds of incoming and outgoing traffic.
- It Doesn’t allow unauthorized user to access.
- Response automatically to the threats.
- Protects all the endpoints.
Working of cloud firewall
The workings of the cloud firewall are like those of the other traditional firewalls, but the difference is that it operates on a virtual cloud server. The purpose and objective of the cloud firewall are the same, as it also secures an organization’s network. Let’s understand on what basis a cloud firewall works.
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Packet filtering
In a network, there are small amounts of data, which are referred to as packets. These packets are collected by various filters before they enter a firewall. These packets scan for threats, and if they are found, firewalls restrict them from entering a network.
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Proxy service
A proxy service avoids the direct connection between a user device and incoming packets. This is how it secures a network from unauthorized access.
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Stateful inspection
With the work of stateful inspections, a cloud firewall checks the policies between a data source and the destination; if the required policies do not match the data and source of the destination, access gets denied. And users are required to register themselves with the new policies.
Benefits of Cloud Firewall
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Installation and Scalability
Cloud firewalls are easy to install, and they do not create many hurdles for businesses. Besides, they are very easy to manage. Cloud firewalls are scalable, which means that a cloud firewall is not like a traditional firewall. And they come with unlimited scale because the bandwidth keeps increasing and it handles large traffic with ease.
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Web Filters
A cloud firewall has the capability to identify and filter all the traffic from various resources. Cloud firewalls can easily differentiate between bots and humans; therefore, they secure bot attacks.
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Updates
Automatic updates are available through a firewall, which protects a network from cyberattacks.
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Availability
Cloud-based firewalls are available all the time, and they are not like traditional firewalls. Thus, cloud-based firewalls have the potential to secure all kinds of threats at any time of the day.
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Performance management
Cloud firewalls offer tools for controlling and managing performance, visibility, usage, configuration, and logging.
Types of Cloud Firewalls
There are two different types of cloud firewalls. Both of these types are available as cloud-based software that scans all the internal and external data packets. It decides which traffic should be blocked and accessed. The two types of cloud firewalls are:
- SaaS Firewall
- Next Generation Firewall
SaaS Firewall
SaaS is developed to protect an organization’s network. They are not the same as traditional on-premises firewalls. SaaS firewalls are deployed in an off-site environment from the cloud. SaaS firewalls are also known as Software as a Service, Security as a Service, or Firewall as a Service.
Next-generation Firewall
These are the cloud-based services that are deployed in a virtual data center. They secure an organization’s server by using a platform-as-a-service or infrastructure-as-a service model. It secures and manages all the traffic between cloud-based applications.
As the usage of cloud infrastructure has increased, it has become very important to use the best firewall to secure cloud infrastructure.
Top Firewalls used to manage cloud infrastructure
Some of the best firewall that protects a cloud infrastructure are:
It is a very well-known firewall that provides advanced security to the organization’s network. To secure a cloud infrastructure, a checkpoint firewall has a specialized product known as the Vsec product. It secures both the public and private cloud, like AWS, GCP, Azure, and VMware, and the private cloud, like OpenStack and Cisco ACI. Now the Vsec is known as Checkpoint Cloud Guard Network, and its features are:
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Advance security
Checkpoint Cloud Guard IaaS provides advanced security to the private cloud, and it secures a system from cyberthreats with the help of multi-layer protection, which includes things like IPS, IDS, antivirus protection, data loss prevention, and zero data protection.
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Security Policies
When the context is shared between Checkpoint cloud guard IaaS and the SDN controllers, it ensures that all the endpoints and VM identities get simply installed and reutilized within Checkpoint security policies.
Checkpoint Cloud Guard network will secure your public and private cloud infrastructure from all kinds of cyberthreats. And if you don’t know how to deploy it, you can get the help of your Checkpoint firewall vendor. Some checkpoint firewall vendors, like Buy Firewall UTM, give full support to their clients whenever they need it.
Sonic Wall firewalls give complete security to the organization. This firewall helps businesses to avoid cyber threats. Sonic Wall offers a range of firewalls, and the NSv product of Sonic Wall protects a cloud infrastructure from cyberthreats. The Sonic Wall NSv series offers full security for all the components of the public and private cloud. This series is available on VMWare, ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and KVM platforms.
Features and benefits of Sonic Wall NSv series are:
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Enhanced security
The NSv firewall offers the best security to the public (AWS, Azure) as well as the private cloud (ESXi, Hyper V). No matter how many threats evolve, it will still secure all the enterprise data secured in the cloud.
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Blocks more attacks with RTDMI
The Sonic Wall NSv series does not allow users to leave their business security at risk, and for this reason, they have real-time deep memory inspection, which protects a cloud infrastructure from advanced cyberthreats. The RTDMI engine has the potential to scan zero-day threats and all malwares.
NSv series model
Sonic Wall NSv Series Firewall models are:
- NSv 870
- NSv 470
- NSv 270
Sophos is the leading cybersecurity company that offers businesses a comprehensive solution for protecting their networks from unknown threats. Sophos XG series secures the whole cloud environment. Sophos Central has some amazing features that give end-to-end protection to the cloud infrastructure.
Features of the Sophos Firewall are:
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Easy to deploy
No other firewall is as easy to deploy as Sophos Firewall is. You can run Sophos firewall in AWS or Microsoft Azure.
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Web and app control
Sophos next-generation firewall takes control over the web and applications in securing both the cloud.
Sophos Firewalls are designed in such a way that they secure all of your cloud environments, no matter whether they are public, private, or hybrid.
Palo Alto Networks also delivers very high-end security to businesses, and Palo Alto Prisma Cloud is the unique product that secures all cloud servers from cyberthreats. It is the industry’s complete cloud-native application platform, which provides comprehensive security coverage. There is 2000+ customers who trust the Prisma Cloud.
Features of Prisma Cloud are:
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WAAS
WAAS stands for web application and API security. It secures all web applications across the cloud infrastructure.
- CNAPP
CNAPP means cloud-native application platform, which secures the applications from code to the cloud. This unique feature differentiates Palo Alto Network from other next-generation firewalls.
Prisma Cloud secures all the stages of an application, from development to running an application. It protects the public cloud at every stage.
Palo Alto Prisma Network firewall provides security to all the cloud infrastructure, such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. One can buy a Palo Alto Network firewall from a reliable Palo Alto Network vendor, as a reliable partner will also help guide you.
Microsoft Defender is the oldest and most reliable solution for security among all types of businesses. Microsoft Defender for Cloud protects businesses that are operating in multiload and hybrid environments. From developing an application to running it, it offers a comprehensive cloud-native application protection platform.
Features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud:
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Quickly detects modern threats
Microsoft Defender protects the multi-cloud environment by detecting threats quickly. And as soon as it detects it, it responds too.
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Security management for developers
Microsoft Defender for the cloud maintains security for developers. It means that from the beginning, it only ensures that all the cloud applications are protected.
Microsoft Defender for the cloud has the following capabilities: it keeps on monitoring the security posture, protects workloads, analyzes attacks quickly, ensures regulatory compliance, and more.
Cloud Firewalls are the future
In the current situation, every business has shifted itself to the cloud. And it is of high importance to deploy such a Next-Generation Firewall, which will protect public, private, and hybrid clouds from all kinds of cyberthreats. When the apps are in the cloud, a firewall should also be in place. In this blog, we have discussed the top firewalls that are suitable for the cloud environment. Hope you will find this blog worthy.
