As you and your IT team continue to strive to keep your organization’s network safe and secure from data breaches, you are probably considering investing in a Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) system. Here are the top 10 things you should look for in a NGFW to set you on the path to finding the right platform to fill your organization’s cybersecurity needs.
- Industry Recognized Technology. It is important to take a look around at what industry experts and your peers consider sound and reliable technology when you choose your own organization’s products. Take a look at independent security test reports such as can be found through NSS Labs.
- All-Encompassing Security. If you need to worry about cloud computing storage, unified communications, VOIP, networking storage, backup and recovery and overall business continuity, you need a highly functional firewall security platform that allows you to cover your company’s essential computing needs.
- Speed and More Speed. You don’t want to invest in a platform that will bring your system to a slow crawl. While you need to make sure your Next Generation Firewall does its job in securing your network, it needs to keep up with your organization’s speed of business.
- Virtualization Features. Security Week notes how helpful virtual appliances in a NGFW are since each virtual machine can run its own software and work independently within a comprehensive security platform. You can isolate security gateway functions into separately manageable events to make sure you are taking care of an independent issue versus a system-wide problem. If you have multiple users on your system, you can detect specific problems faster with virtual functionality.
- SIEM Integration. When you pair corresponding NGFW and SIEM platforms together, you can quickly detect and immobilize the most current cyber threats with unparalleled speed and accuracy. Look for a platform that includes integration with top SIEM vendors.
- Real-Time Detection. Fighting today’s attacks requires more than anti-malware, a virtual sandbox, or a separate monitoring system. A comprehensive and integrated approach is needed to isolate and detect threats before they can gain access to the network. Choose a robust combination of proactive detection and mitigation, actionable threat insight and easy, integrated deployment.
- Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). DPI often uses data stream inspection as yet another way to separate and inspect potential threats before they can breach your organization. Choose a solution that integrates Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and Deep Packet Inspection to combat modern day attacks.
- Low Cost With High Returns. You can help your company save money with the right NGFW that features an efficient design that eliminates the need for multiple security devices that do not work together effectively. Choose a multi-functional and consolidated NGFW for your best return on investment.
- Non-Clustering and High System Availability With Active-Active Features. Like most IT managers, you need to keep your system’s downtime to a minimum, even when it comes to routine daily maintenance. With active-active clustering, you won’t experience interruptions during standard maintenance procedures. Look for cluster-based, hot-standby, high availability. Be sure that if one of the units in a cluster fails, the remaining cluster units take over and network traffic continues with minimal or no interruption.
- Advanced User and Application Controls. Help your staff stay on track with detailed policies, based on user criteria and the type of web application.
As an experienced systems integrator Xiologix will give you the boost you need in your breach prevention network security efforts. Xiologix leverages top-tier technologies to secure your network, implement critical controls, and protect your network and data from cyber threats. Xiologix diverse business practices, vendor agnostic practices, team of threat protection experts, and innovative IT Security controls deliver unrivaled cyber security solutions to meet the needs of your organization.
