Perimeter Security

Since their introduction in the 1980s, firewalls have been, by far, the most utilized of cyber security products. Today’s firewall products are referred to as Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW) or Unified Threat Management (UTM). They have built on key concepts and offer deep-level packet inspection, application filtering, IDS/IPS, email, and reverse proxy.  While similar, there are some differences between NGFW and UTM firewalls.

• A NGFW can be a physical appliance, software, or cloud-enabled, and is designed to detect and protect organizations from more sophisticated attacks. Most NGFWs include deep-packet inspections, IDS/IPS, application inspection and control, SSL/SSH inspection, website filtering, and Quality of Service bandwidth management. Some will also include a form of threat intelligence and data loss prevention with active directory integration.
• A UTM can also be a physical appliance, software or cloud-enabled, and generally consists of the firewall technologies, intrusion detection, antimalware, spam and content filtering with VPN capabilities. Some UTM firewall software includes load balancing, quality of service, intrusion prevention, identity-based access control, and application awareness.

Firewalls are an essential security product and are the first layer of defense when it comes to protecting the assets of your organization. Symtrex’s product portfolio provides for two firewall options: Sophos and Fortinet. Should you have any questions on NGFWs, UTMs or cyber security solutions for your company in general, contact our network security company today.