Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) And Its Importance

Picture a world where your network is completely secure and no cyber threats can harm your data. As much as we all would like that, it's nearly impossible outside of our imaginations. But there are technologies that get us close, like next-generation firewall (NGFWs), third-generation of firewall technology.

As a way to meet the rapidly changing network security needs of our time, NGFW tech represents a logical evolution from traditional firewalls. Mid- and large-size enterprises opt for NGFW over unified threat management (UTM) solutions, which, though closely related in capabilities, are better suited for smaller businesses.

Why you need an NGFW

Look at the news any day and there’s a story of cyber attacks targeting even the largest and (seemingly) most secure networks - Log4j vulnerability, SolarWinds and MoveIT ransomware attack, and more.

These attacks underscore the necessity of having strong network security. While traditional firewalls suffice for basic security, the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape asks for more reinforced protection, and NGFW fulfills that request. It offers additional features to support multiple critical network security functions in a unified platform, making security operations easier.

Next-generation firewall vs. traditional firewall

Both conventional firewalls and NGFWs identify and block unwanted network traffic. However, they do so at different levels of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model, the standard network communication stack.

A traditional network firewall performs stateful inspection of network traffic till layer 4 of the OSI model, which is the network and transport layer. It filters traffic based on state, port, and protocol, and allows or blocks traffic based on rules defined by the network administrator. It inspects the IP addresses and port numbers of inbound and outbound packets, but it cannot look into the content of the packets.

An NGFW does this, plus it examines traffic at all seven layers of the OSI model. By examining the data carried in network packets, it does deep packet inspection (DPI) that goes beyond simple port and protocol inspection.

Another major difference comes from the application awareness and control features of a NGFW. A next-gen firewall identifies and monitors specific applications or services that run on a network to see and block risky apps, something that traditional firewalls lack.

NGFWs are also capable of identifying and blocking application-layer attacks with an in-built intrusion prevention system (IPS) and unknown threat detection with an integrated threat intelligence service. Traditional firewall doesn’t offer anything like that.

Here’s a summary of the differences between traditional firewalls and NGFW.

Features of NGFW

An NGFW is a comprehensive solution that protects against a variety of network security threats. It includes all the features of a traditional firewall, like:

• Packet filtering based on source/destination IP addresses, port numbers, and protocols.
• Stateful inspection to track network connections.
• Network address translation (NAT) to map private IP addresses to public IP addresses.
• Network access control (NAC) to enforce access policies.
• Virtual private network (VPN) support to establish secure connections to the network over the internet.

However, NGFWs have a wide range of other features that make them the better option to enhance network security.

Deep packet inspection (DPI)

NGFWs perform advanced packet inspection to analyze the contents of network traffic in-depth. Along with IP headers, source and destination ports, NGFWs also look at the body of each packet. They search for known signs of malware, malicious payloads, and other potential cyber threats in each packet’s content to allow or block them.

Several next-gen firewalls also support DPI for encrypted traffic. The importance of this feature cannot be overstated, given the majority of internet traffic today is secure sockets layer/ transport layer security (SSL/TLS) encrypted to maintain privacy and secure communications between applications. It helps detect threats, malware, or suspicious activities hidden within encrypted traffic.

Application awareness

NGFWs have the ability to recognize individual applications by their traffic signature and control traffic on the application layer. This allows organizations to enforce policies based on specific applications, ensuring better control and security. The system also allows or blocks file transfers depending on application, file type, and direction (upload/download).

For example, network administrators can set a policy that allows Skype calls, but prohibits Skype file transfers. In another instance, they could set a policy to block downloads of any executable files via HTTP protocol, which is often not safe.

User identification

Next-gen firewalls authenticate individual network users. This user awareness enables organizations to establish access controls and security policies based on user identities.

Intrusion prevention systems

Intrusion prevention is the ability to analyze network traffic and system activities to identify and block potential threats. It’s part of an intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS).

However, NGFWs provide built-in IPS capabilities, a significant add-on. These systems analyze network traffic in real time and stop intrusion attempts and known vulnerabilities.

Advanced threat intelligence and protection

NGFWs offer advanced threat protection features such as antivirus, anti-malware, network sandboxing technology, and integration with threat intelligence sources. The external threat intelligence feed makes sure the system is up-to-date on new and emerging cyber attack signatures. These features prove extremely helpful against fast-evolving ransomware attacks and zero-day exploits.

Several NGFWs even use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for early threat detection and security policy recommendations. These are some of the main features that you can expect from a next-generation firewall. However, it's important to note that the specific features vary depending on the vendor.

These are some of the main features that you can expect from a next-generation firewall. However, it's important to note that the specific features vary depending on the vendor.

Types of NGFW

NGFWs come in various types, each designed to cater to specific needs and use cases. Keep reading for info on the three main types.

• Hardware NGFWs are physical devices that secure on-premise private network infrastructure. It’s mostly used in enterprise data centers, corporate offices, and midsize businesses.
• Virtual NGFWs are software-based firewalls that run on virtual machines. They can be deployed both on-premise and for different cloud environments like public, private, and hybrid.
• Cloud NGFWs are completely cloud-native and designed to protect cloud workloads, applications, and data. Sometimes, cloud NGFWs are also referred to as firewall as a service (FWaaS). However, the two are different. Even though a FWaaS can become a cloud NGFW if it offers all the advanced features, typically they’re just like software-as-a-service (SaaS).

Benefits of NGFW

Network managers and security teams have a difficult task at hand: monitoring a network that’s growing larger and more complex by the minute while facing a dangerous cyber threat landscape. NGFW not only lightens this daunting task, but also provides several advantages.

1. Increased visibility

NGFWs offer detailed visibility into network traffic to let organizations identify applications, users, and content within the traffic. This visibility leads to better control over network access, security policies, and bandwidth usage.

Additionally, NGFWs provide intricate logging and reporting of network activity, which helps when network admins review and analyze network traffic. This data is invaluable for troubleshooting, compliance reporting, incident response, and network forensics investigation.

2. Granular application control

Since NGFWs identify and control specific applications, organizations get to set policies at the application level. Using access control rules, application traffic can be allowed, blocked, or passed on for DPI and threat inspection. NGFWs also allow application usage tracking to find risky apps and analyze traffic patterns to improve network management and control.

3. Simplified security management

NGFWs include in-built IPS, antivirus, web filtering, DLP, and VPN capabilities. This consolidation of security services lowers costs and reduces the need for multiple security tools.

It offer centralized management platforms so administrators can configure and manage security policies across the network from a single interface. This mitigates operational complexity.

4. Early threat detection

NGFW’s IPS constantly monitors for known and unknown threats. With threat feeds that update automatically, NGFWs are on a constant lookout for exploits like malware, ransomware, and adware, as well as new exploits against recently discovered vulnerabilities. NGFWs work to stop them before they gain a foothold inside the network, ensuring full-time protection.

5. Balanced security and network performance

NGFWs are designed to handle the increased demands of modern networks, whether on the cloud or on-premise. A high-performing NGFW works efficiently to perform DPI and analyze encrypted traffic with minimal network latency to avoid degrading performance. The result is a highly effective perimeter defense against many known and unknown threats that doesn’t slow down your users or business.

Fire up your firewall

As cyber threats rapidly evolve, your security has to keep pace. If your organization is serious about cybersecurity, consider upgrading your conventional firewall to an NGFW, whether you’re on the cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid environment.

Looking to learn more about network security? Explore what network traffic analysis is and how it supports network security.