- The simple packet filtering or circuit-level gateway, which provides basic protection that has minimal performance impact?
- The stateful inspection architecture that combines the capabilities of both of the previous two options, but has a larger performance impact? Or
- A proxy or next-gen firewall that offers far more robust protection in exchange for additional expenses and an even higher performance impact?
The real question is “why would you only use one?”
No one protection layer, no matter how robust, will ever be enough to protect your business. To provide better protection, your networks should have multiple layers of firewalls, both at the perimeter and separating different assets on your network. For example, you could have a hardware or cloud firewall at the perimeter of your network, then individual software firewalls on each of your network assets.
Having additional firewalls helps to make your network tougher to crack by creating additional defense-in-depth that isolates different assets—making it so attackers have to perform extra work to reach all of your most sensitive information.
The particular firewalls that you will want to use will depend on the capabilities of your network, relevant compliance requirements for your industry, and the resources you have in place to manage these firewalls.
Need help finding the ideal firewall architecture for your business’ needs? Consider starting with a security policy audit and assessment first. This can help you identify all of the assets on your network that need protecting so you can better optimize your firewall implementation.
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