What are Security Services and Why They Matter
Our clients often ask, why do we need extra security services and software running on our firewall? Won’t the basic firewall suffice?
What is a firewall?
A firewall is the network security device that in most cases physically sits nearby where your high speed internet access enters your office location. The firewall connects to your high speed modem or router and is often deployed in your wiring closet or data room. In its most basic form, the firewall provides network security at the perimeter of your office network, keeping unwanted intruders out, while allowing authorized traffic to pass to and from the internet.
What are security services?
Firewalls today support a range of advanced software and services, giving businesses the option to enable additional security functions and defenses. Think of your firewall as more of a security platform, where you can add modular software and services to enhance your overall protection. Just like a computer, you can add extra software to the base hardware model to make it more powerful and add important and continuously-updated functions.
Not surprisingly, these extra services and software deliver most of the advanced functionality on the device and therefore add cost to the overall installation. Commonly, the extra security services are sold in 1, 2, or 3-year subscriptions.
At Protek, we standardize on SonicWall, one of the leading providers of business-class network security technology. For every SonicWall deployment, we install both the base hardware firewall, along with the SonicWall Advanced Gateway Security Suite (AGSS). For new deployments, we often select the SonicWall TotalSecure bundle. Roughly speaking, the security services often form 40% of the total cost of the deployment. Just like with your fleet of PCs, the hardware itself is one part of the cost, while the highly valuable software that gets added forms an additional and substantial portion of your investment.
Why security services matter?
Robust cyber security requires non-stop vigilance. Protek’s vendor partners, like SonicWall, invest millions of dollars in research & development to stay one step ahead of the cyber criminals. The security vendor research labs continuously update their intelligence databases, malware signatures, and known threats. This cyber intelligence gets pushed down to the millions of deployed firewalls in real-time, on a 24×7 basis. Your Protek managed firewall, with SonicWall security services, is always up to date with the latest known threats and capabilities.
The security services running on the firewall provide important additional functionality to keep you and your company protected at all times. The included Content Filtering Service filters all web traffic on your network and prevents employees from accessing inappropriate or dangerous websites. Inside every SonicWall firewall is a patented Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection® (RF-DPI) engine that scans traffic against multiple application types and protocols, ensuring your network has around-the-clock protection from internal and external attacks and application vulnerabilities. This scanning engine defends your network from threats such as ransomware, viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, adware, key loggers, malicious mobile code (MMC) and other dangerous applications and web content.
The SonicWall services also include SonicWall Capture ATP. This feature enables SonicWall’s Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) technology, which detects and blocks malware that does not exhibit any malicious behavior or hides its weaponry via encryption. By forcing malware to reveal its weaponry into memory, the RTDMI engine proactively detects and blocks mass-market, never-before-seen threats and unknown malware, accurately utilizing real-time memory-based inspection techniques.
In summary, security services deliver the most important value and functionality in your firewall deployment. These services help us keep you, your users, and your data safe. Our robust approach to network security, with world-class firewalls, continuously updated security services, and numerous additional layers of cyber security defense and backups, helps ensure the utmost protection for our clients.
Check in with your account manager Michelle Lawson to learn more about your current level of cyber security defense. Set up a consultation today.