Identifying The 5 Key Benefits of Managed Firewall Services

Every business, regardless of size or industry, is a potential target for malicious actors seeking vulnerabilities in a network. The ever-growing adoption of hybrid or remote workspaces have only added to the complexity and expanded the attack surface for employees, devices and applications. While traditional firewall solutions have kept networks more secure, they have struggled to keep pace with the sophisticated threats facing modern businesses.

In order to stay ahead of potential security breaches and safeguard network infrastructure, many businesses are turning to managed firewall services— a dedicated IT service where third-party professionals handle the operation, monitoring and management of your firewall infrastructure.

In this blog, you’ll learn how the adoption of managed firewall services is driving next-gen network security capabilities.

Moving Beyond the Traditional Firewall

Traditional firewalls act as gatekeepers, blocking and filtering unauthorized traffic based on predefined security rules. While this approach can be an easy and affordable IT investment to block known threats, it lacks adaptability against emerging cyberattacks. Some of the limitations include:

· Manual Management: Internal IT teams must continuously update security rules and configure policies, which is both time-consuming and prone to errors.

· Static Policies: The predefined security policies are limited in flexibility and scalability for dynamic, distributed cloud environments.

· Limited Visibility: While administrators have visibility over network packets, traditional firewalls can miss threats that operate at the application layer or within encrypted traffic.

As common cyberattacks became more sophisticated, businesses began looking beyond the traditional firewall protection. Managed firewall services offer continuous monitoring, expert threat analysis and real-time security adjustments.

Key Benefits of a Managed Firewall Service

1. Proactive Threat Detection

Unlike traditional firewall solutions, a managed firewall service offers enhanced visibility over the network to combat new and emerging threats. Security professionals analyze

network activity, identify vulnerabilities and implement patches before attackers can exploit them.

2. 24/7 Monitoring & Response

Cyber threats don’t care about business hours. With a managed firewall, security experts provide 24×7 monitoring of your network – providing swift responses to suspicious activity and mitigating attacks.

3. Reduced Operational Burden

Managing network security in-house requires dedicated resources, skilled personnel and time. A managed firewall service frees up your IT teams so they can focus on mission critical tasks rather than responding to every potential network incident.

4. Compliance & Data Protection

A managed firewall ensures compliance with frameworks like HIPAA, SOC 2, CMMC and NIST Cybersecurity – safeguarding sensitive data and avoiding catastrophic data breaches.

5. Scalability & Customization

One size doesn’t fit all. Managed firewall services can be customized to match your infrastructure, adapting and scaling out as your organization grows or faces new cyber risks.

Relying on legacy security solutions leaves businesses and agencies exposed to data breaches, ransomware attacks and network intrusions. By investing in a managed firewall service, organizations can partner with cybersecurity professionals to actively defend against the ever-changing threat landscape.

Red River’s Approach to Managed Firewall Services

We leverage our longstanding partnership with Cisco to deliver a comprehensive Managed Firewall Solution to empower network security. With Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) solution like Cisco’s Firepower Threat Defense combined with Red River’s 24 X 7 managed services support, organizations gain peace of mind for their perimeter security, remote-access VPN solutions, or extranet connectivity.

The highly adaptable NGFW scales to business needs while providing threat defense, malware detection and compliance. Red River’s managed services team then performs ongoing maintenance, patching and upgrades to ensure the Managed Firewall Solution remains compliant and operating efficiently.

To learn more about Red Rivers managed services capabilities or Cisco’s suite of advanced NGFW solutions, be sure to check our latest cybersecurity eBook.