The CommandLink Five-Minute Guide To NGFWaaS

NGFWaaS is a mouthful to pronounce, so let’s spell out its full name: Next-Generation Firewall as a Service. This security appliance is used to enforce rules and process network traffic, blocking out the traffic that could be dangerous to data, applications and infrastructure. They’re called ‘next-generation firewalls’ because their capabilities are far beyond those of a traditional firewall, and as the name suggests, they can be deployed as-a-service like many other security functions.

An NGFW differs from a traditional firewall in that it inspects traffic at a much more detailed level to spot potential trouble. A normal firewall will block traffic based on what it sees at face value: its source, its destination, the legitimacy of its network connection and so on. But malicious traffic can be hidden within traffic that would look normal to a traditional firewall. This is where the extra capability of an NGFW comes into play, using threat intelligence, intrusion prevention, application awareness and deep packet inspection (DPI) to root out these hidden threats, too.

Businesses’ attack surfaces are growing all the time. That’s because the use of cloud-based applications is becoming more prevalent, and they’re being accessed by a wider range of devices now that remote and flexible work has become more mainstream. At the same time, cyber-threats continue to grow in number and sophistication.

All of this means that businesses face a continual arms race in keeping threats away from their data and applications, in all of the increasing number of ways in which they’re accessed. A next-generation firewall is a critical part of that defense.

When looking for a next-generation firewall vendor, it’s vital to look at how they’re able to respond to new and emerging threats. They should be able to demonstrate how security is applied quickly, how defenses are strengthened in real time, and how easily IT security teams can apply organization-specific policies to the firewall.

It’s also important to ensure that the firewall strikes the right balance of filtering out any hazardous traffic, but without hampering the smooth day-to-day running of the organization. NGFWs that feature the highest level of intelligent innovation and automated workflows will be most likely to get that balance right.

A powerful, intelligent NGFW forms a core part of CommandLink’s wider SASE solution, already being used by companies like yours all over the world. It also includes SD-WAN, ZTNA, Secure Web Gateway, Cloud Access Security Broker and Remote Browser Isolation, giving you a full suite of security functions fit for a cloud-native world of flexible work. Along with our technology, full package of hardware, software, design engineering, project management/deployment and CommandPOD support.

We partner with two leading producers of next-generation firewall technologies - Versa NGFW and FortiGate NGFW - so you can choose the option that’s right for you, your security demands and your operational priorities.