Firewalls

A firewall is a software layer of security between your organisation’s network and the Internet. The firewall function is merged within a router. Its purpose is to keep cyber threats and malicious or unwanted network traffic out of your network.

Your firewall is your first line of defence. You can think of a firewall as a great wall around your business, protecting your digital assets from cyber threats.

Closing any unused ports in a router is the most important step towards reducing risk. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘ports’, then ports are virtual places within an operating system where network connections start and end.

There’s 65,535 of them and they help computers sort through the network traffic they receive. Cyber criminals scan for open ports and use open ports to gain unauthorised access to sensitive data which is why open ports cause a significant cybersecurity risk.

“Any unused open ports need to be locked down … to protect your business!” 

Firewalls are not a simple point-and-click or set-it-and-forget-it technology. Configuring a firewall is only the beginning.

While they provide excellent security and protection, they also need to be monitored and managed to ensure their effectiveness.

Doing so will help:

1. Protect against cyber criminals
2. Meet compliance requirements; and
3. Ease the burden of monitoring using in-house resources

You should continually update your firewall licenses to avoid any service interruption. The premium features of your firewall will be disabled when your firewall is out of warranty, which poses a significant security risk to your network.