What Is a Managed Firewall?

A managed firewall is a network firewall that is operated by a third-party organization. It provides many of the same features as an on-prem firewall but is configured and operated by a team of third-party security experts.

Why is a Managed Firewall Important?

Firewalls are a crucial part of an organization’s network security strategy. They divide the corporate network from the public Internet, blocking inbound cyberattacks and outbound data exfiltration.

But, they only fulfill this role effectively if they are properly deployed, configured, and operated.

If an organization lacks the in-house security expertise or resources needed to operate its own firewall, then a managed firewall offers a highly secure alternative. Managed firewalls are deployed and operated by third-party experts who know how to optimize their configuration settings and have access to more data about advanced threats. In many cases, a managed firewall offers superior protection to what a company could achieve internally.

Key Features of a Managed Firewall

A managed firewall offering should include all of the technical features of a modern next-generation firewall (NGFW). These should be combined with a service that provides the following:

• Round-the-Clock Security Monitoring: Cyberattacks can happen at any time, so continuous monitoring is essential to rapid incident response. A managed firewall service should include 24/7/365 security monitoring.
• Real-Time Threat Prevention: Firewalls are designed to identify and block threats before they enter an organization’s network. An NGFW provided as part of a managed firewall service should offer real-time prevention of cyber threats.
• Firewall Management Expertise: Organizations engage a managed firewall service provider to transfer the responsibility of configuring and managing their own firewalls. The provider should offer deep expertise with the NGFWs that they use and how to best configure them to enhance security and network performance.
• Maintenance: Like any software, firewalls require occasional updates to add new features or close security gaps. A managed firewall provider should promptly apply updates for their firewalls to ensure the performance, security, and reliability of their services.
• Compliance Support: Many data protection regulations mandate the use of firewalls or the security capabilities that they offer. Managed service providers should offer customers access to the data required to prove compliance with regulatory requirements and that it hasn’t suffered any reportable breaches of sensitive customer data.

Choosing the Right Managed Firewall Provider

When evaluating providers, it’s important to consider both the technology and the services provided.

Partnering with a managed firewall provider should offer an organization access to a modern NGFW that offers protection against advanced cyber threats. Ideally, this NGFW should integrate AI and ML to provide enhanced detection and prevention of zero-day attacks.

From a service perspective, a managed firewall provider should offer everything listed previously. The organization may also want to check SLAs to ensure that the provider can meet the company’s security and performance requirements.

Best Practices for Managing a Firewall

Managed firewalls are a great option for organizations that don’t want to manage their firewalls in-house. If this isn’t the case for your organization, some best practices for firewall management include:

• Monitoring Regularly: Firewalls can block some threats and may alert the organization to others. Regular monitoring is essential to ensure that the company is prepared to address potential intrusions when they happen.
• Tailoring Firewall Rules: Firewalls may come with pre existing security rules, but these might not meet the needs of the business. Firewall rule sets should be tailored based on the types of network traffic that the company needs to enter and leave the network.
• Patching and Updating: Firewalls require regular maintenance to operate at their peak. Updates and patches should be promptly installed to close security gaps or provide access to new functionality.
• Regular Reviews: As an organization’s IT architecture changes, its firewall rulesets may need to change as well. Regular reviews help to ensure that rules are properly configured to protect the organization’s IT infrastructure.
• Periodic Audits: Firewalls may have unpatched vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or other issues that leave them vulnerable to exploitation. Performing regular security audits helps to identify and fix these issues before an attacker can exploit them.
• Integrating With Other Solutions: A firewall is only one component of a corporate cybersecurity firewall infrastructure. Integrating it with other firewall solutions enables information sharing and coordinated responses to potential threats.
• Real-time Threat Intelligence: Threat intelligence provides information on current attack campaigns. A firewall that can ingest and use this data can automatically update its rulesets to protect against new threats.

Firewall Management Services with Check Point

Choosing the right firewall is essential to protecting the company against potential security threats. To learn more about what to look for in an NGFW, check out this buyer’s guide.

In addition to building industry-leading NGFWs, Check Point also offers a range of services, including managed firewalls. Find out how you can protect your company with Check Point Global Managed Firewall.