12 Reasons to Choose Firewall as a Service for your Business

What is Firewall as a Service?

Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) is a technology that offers firewall and other network security as a cloud service. Why do organizations need FWaaS? The migration to cloud-based firewall platforms and the rise of mobile devices have led to a lack of a clear perimeter in networks where users and applications can be safeguarded against cyber threats. Additionally, research shows 59 percent of businesses stated that handling and monitoring security incidents have become a great concern. FWaaS resolve all these challenges.

How Does Firewall as a Service Work?

FWaaS moves firewall security functions from traditional on-premises appliances to a cloud-based security platform. Network traffic is directed through the cloud firewall, where it is inspected against the organization’s configured security policies.

The FWaaS platform evaluates information such as the traffic source, destination, application, protocol, and applicable access policies. Based on those rules, the service can permit the traffic, block it, or subject it to additional security inspection.

A simplified traffic flow is:

User / Branch / Device → Connectivity → Cloud FWaaS Platform → Traffic Inspection → Security Policy Enforcement → Destination

Approved traffic continues toward its intended destination, while unauthorized or suspicious traffic can be blocked. Security events and traffic activity can also be logged for monitoring, reporting, and investigation.

Because organizations can manage firewall policies centrally, they can maintain consistent security controls across users, branches, and other connected environments without configuring separate policies on every physical appliance.

What Features Are Included in FWaaS?

The capabilities included in FWaaS depend on the provider and service package. However, a typical offering can combine firewall functionality with additional network security and management capabilities.

Common features may include:

• Stateful firewall policies
• Application and traffic filtering
• Network access controls
• Intrusion prevention
• Malware protection
• VPN connectivity
• URL or content filtering
• Security monitoring
• Logging and reporting
• Centralized policy management
• Security updates
• High-availability infrastructure

Some FWaaS offerings also support remote and distributed users. Businesses should evaluate the capabilities included in each service because features and management responsibilities can vary by provider.

How Does FWaaS Architecture Work?

FWaaS architecture places firewall enforcement within a cloud-based security infrastructure. Instead of relying entirely on an appliance located at a corporate office or data center, network traffic can be directed to a cloud firewall for inspection and policy enforcement.

A simplified architecture is:

Users / Branches / Devices → Network Connectivity → FWaaS Cloud Platform → Security Controls → Internet / Applications / Cloud Resources

The cloud firewall acts as a centralized security enforcement point. FWaaS architecture can support organizations with multiple locations, remote users, cloud applications, and distributed infrastructure.

Centralized management also lets organizations maintain security policies from a common platform rather than configuring them independently across multiple firewall appliances.

How Does FWaaS Protect Network Traffic?

FWaaS protects network traffic by applying centrally managed security policies to connections between users, networks, applications, and external destinations.

Depending on the service, security controls can include traffic filtering, access policies, intrusion prevention, malware protection, VPN security, and other threat-prevention capabilities.

Continuous monitoring and security updates can also help organizations maintain current protection without manually updating every firewall appliance. Centralized policy management helps maintain consistent security rules across distributed environments.

When Should a Business Use FWaaS?

Consider FWaaS when an organization needs centralized firewall protection across a distributed or cloud-connected environment.

Common situations include businesses with:

• Multiple branch offices or locations
• Remote or hybrid employees
• Increasing cloud and SaaS adoption
• Limited internal firewall-management resources
• Multiple physical firewall appliances
• Distributed applications and infrastructure
• A need for centralized security policies

FWaaS can also be considered when an organization wants to simplify firewall operations while supporting business growth and geographically distributed infrastructure.

The decision should ultimately be based on the organization’s network architecture, security requirements, connectivity, operational resources, and business objectives.

How is FWaaS Deployed and Implemented?

Deploying FWaaS begins with understanding the organization’s existing network, applications, users, traffic flows, and security requirements. The organization then determines how traffic will connect to the cloud firewall and which security policies to implement.

A typical implementation involves reviewing the existing firewall environment, defining security policies, establishing connectivity to the FWaaS platform, configuring security controls, testing traffic flows, and gradually moving production traffic to the cloud service.

Implementation can include:

1. Assessing the existing network and firewall environment.
2. Identifying users, applications, branches, and traffic flows.
3. Reviewing existing firewall policies.
4. Designing the target FWaaS architecture.
5. Establishing connectivity to the cloud platform.
6. Configuring security policies and controls.
7. Testing connectivity and security rules.
8. Migrating production traffic.
9. Monitoring and optimizing the environment.

A phased implementation can help identify policy, connectivity, or performance issues before migrating the entire production environment.

Organizations should also define responsibilities between internal IT teams and the FWaaS provider. These may include policy changes, monitoring, troubleshooting, security updates, incident response, and ongoing optimization.

Here are twelve reasons to choose Firewall as a Service for your business.

1. Better Disaster Recovery

2. No Need to Offer IT Security Training

Numerous layers of security usually mean high costs of training your IT staff regarding sophisticated configurations and security functions. The use of a managed firewall service ensures the management of firewall transitions, migration of policies between platforms, security protection consolidations, and other time-intensive tasks is done by professionals who possess specialized skills in security services.

This security team can also offer you affordable security advice and consultations. This service analyzes your current firewall configuration, including policies and rules. After this analysis, the security professionals will aid you in fine-tuning policies and rules that are better specialized to meet the requirements of your business.

3. Comprehensive Protection Services

Providers of Firewall as a Service help in managing and monitoring every security device utilized by your network. This usually includes managed firewalls, anti-malware and anti-virus protection, customized security services, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), vulnerability scanning, and intrusion detection that help to meet industry compliance standards.

All these services are offered from a high-availability data center that possesses its security safeguards in place. Also, each center consists of built-in redundancy technologies that ensure your network’s security is guaranteed in case of failure.

4. Simplified Management

Management of secure networking can consume plenty of time and use most of your IT resources. Utilizing a firewall as a service ensures that your IT team focuses on initiatives related to the company’s core business. In this manner, security management does not restrict your business but instead enables it. Use of these services offers you access to updates, threat definitions, and the latest firmware.

This translates to improved safeguards against the security threats that you face daily as new forms of attacks are invented. There is a more efficient running of your system when critical policies and rules are implemented, monitoring is done around the clock throughout the year, and necessary patch management is done.

5. Reduced Costs and Improved TCO

To provide your company with a lot of safeguards against sophisticated security threats, you need to deploy multiple firewall appliances, like an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), content filtering systems, and threat prevention applications. These network security capabilities can be costly when it comes to monitoring, management, and maintenance in addition to equipment purchase and setting up. Every component needs its type of maintenance updates that can restrict visibility regarding end-to-end protection.

A firewall as a service aids in minimizing these sophistications and unifying security management at a great expense reduction. Your firm obtains next-generation firewall technology managed by IT professionals on a monthly subscription basis. There is a lack of capital investments regarding equipment and expenses linked to this kind of security team.

According to research by Secure Data, a company with 500 workers will minimize its firewall expenses by 37 percent and save an average of $139,000. Your cloud infrastructure, WAN and internet, and other IT components you have will be secure at a low cost.

6. Convenient for a Mobile Workforce

The way people work is continually evolving. Advancement in networking technology has enabled remote working, which many organizations are already practicing. According to a 2015 US Bureau of Labor and Statistics study, 38 percent of employees performed part or all of their work remotely from home.

Businesses are accommodating this advancement by allowing cloud-based services, SaaS services, and mobile access to company applications and resources. This concept has disrupted the enterprise perimeter concept. Perimeter security technologies no longer offer the scope and flexibility required in the contemporary enterprise.

This has created the need for a managed firewall and security service. For remote working to be possible, most firms secure mobile users by backhauling traffic via their secure data center. Primarily all traffic is channeled to an on-premise firewall before being put onto the internet. When users require connecting to a primary location to gain access to a cloud application, latent and performance problems arise.

Another method used to secure remote and mobile traffic is through securing of the internet traffic locally, resulting in appliance sprawl. However, managed firewall and security service eradicates these issues through the connection of users via a world-wide SLA-backend cloud network, which links all users, resources, and traffic, including access to SaaS and cloud applications by remote and mobile users.

7. Performance

Performance limitation of physical devices is among the biggest problems regarding appliance-based security. When a physical device experiences increased load as a result of higher volume of traffic or extra processing is needed in decrypting an excess SSL traffic volume, the appliance usually needs upgrading to meet the growing requirements of the capacity. Because of constraints on the budget, physical appliance limitations frequently push you to choose between cost efficiency and security. Consequently, remote branch security is challenged. Using a managed firewall and security service removes the need for a sophisticated sizing process in determining the capacity of the appliance. FWaaS lets you grow your company organically with unlimited scalability.

8. Remaining Up to Date

Failure to install the latest patches and updates for your firewall exposes your company to many risks. New cyber-attacks are created fast and daily, which has resulted in the creation of regular updates to secure hardware. If you fail to install these updates, your security system will become susceptible to attacks. If you are too casual regarding updating your hardware, you are making your network vulnerability to threats. Outsourcing this role to a managed firewall and security service providers that utilize remote monitoring tools delegates the task of updating your system to them. These updates will be carried out on time, increasing your business’s security.

9. Reporting

It is hard to determine the number of threats that have attacked your network. Through the use of a managed firewall and security service, you can obtain detailed reports regarding the threats that face your business. These reports can assist you in analyzing your security measures and identifying vulnerabilities. They can also offer you a good idea of your staff’s behaviors that could minimize the value of your security efforts.

10. Improved Internal Threat Protection

Even though most security attacks originate outside your business network, threats can also originate from inside the organization. Use of social media, web browsing, staff productivity activities, and online videos can expose your network to malware and viruses. Managed firewall and security services can implement and configure applications that offer filtering and other safeguards against threats created by staff activities.

11. Complete Visibility

The current dynamic networks need a different approach. Numerous firms rely on costly MPLS based on WAN networks to link remote branches. Backhauling of traffic via a primary location leads to a trombone effect after remote users attempt to access cloud-based and SaaS Services business applications. This setup leads to a lack of visibility and control in the network. By migrating the firewall into the cloud, companies can benefit from centralized management and unique security powered by complete visibility into the whole network.

12. Better End-User Experience

Appliance sprawl and direct internet access unify the lifecycle of perimeter security management. Options like MPLS/VPN offer poor end-user experience because the outgoing traffic dispatched over the public internet can face packet drop and high latency. High costs are associated with using an MPLS network before routing the traffic. Managed firewall and security service avoids all these challenges and creates a secure and user-friendly environment.

FWaaS vs. Traditional Firewall

The primary difference between FWaaS and a traditional firewall is how firewall functionality is delivered and managed. FWaaS moves the firewall function into a cloud-based service, while traditional deployments commonly rely on physical or virtual firewall appliances managed by the organization.

Factor	FWaaS	Traditional Firewall
Delivery	Cloud-based service	Usually physical or virtual appliance
Management	Centralized service management	Organization manages appliance/software
Scaling	Designed for cloud-based scaling	May require additional capacity or appliances
Distributed users	Well suited to distributed environments	May require additional infrastructure
Updates	Often managed as part of the service	Organization may manage updates
Hardware	Reduced dependence on dedicated appliances	Requires appliance or infrastructure
Management model	Subscription/service model	Hardware/software ownership or licensing

The appropriate approach depends on the organization’s network architecture, security requirements, performance expectations, internal resources, and operational model.

How Much Does Firewall as a Service Cost?

Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) pricing varies by service provider. It depends on factors such as the number of users, branches, devices, traffic volume, bandwidth requirements, security features, connectivity, monitoring, support, and SLA requirements. Providers may use different pricing models, including per-user, per-location, per-device, bandwidth-based, or customized monthly pricing.

When evaluating FWaaS costs, businesses should consider the total cost of the managed service, not just the monthly firewall subscription. Depending on the provider and service scope, costs may include initial assessment and deployment, migration, policy configuration, ongoing security monitoring, threat management, reporting, technical support, connectivity, and additional security services.

FWaaS can also reduce the need for businesses to purchase, maintain, and periodically upgrade dedicated firewall infrastructure. However, the overall cost and potential savings depend on the organization’s existing firewall environment, network architecture, security requirements, and the services included in the provider’s offering.

Before selecting a FWaaS provider, businesses should compare the base price, additional service charges, SLA coverage, support availability, security capabilities, and scalability requirements to understand the expected total cost.

Is FWaaS Suitable for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses?

FWaaS can suit small and medium-sized businesses that need firewall protection but have limited internal resources for managing complex security infrastructure.

A cloud-based service can reduce the need to purchase and maintain multiple firewall appliances while providing centralized security management. It can also give SMBs access to security capabilities that might otherwise require additional hardware, software, or specialized personnel.

However, SMBs should evaluate pricing, security features, provider support, connectivity requirements, and SLA terms before selecting a service.

Is FWaaS Suitable for Enterprise Networks?

FWaaS can support enterprise environments with distributed users, branch offices, cloud applications, and geographically dispersed infrastructure.

Centralized policy management can help enterprises maintain consistent security controls across multiple locations and environments.

When assessing a FWaaS solution, enterprise organizations should evaluate scalability, availability, performance, global connectivity, policy management, reporting, compliance requirements, integration capabilities, and incident response processes.

Evaluate FWaaS against the organization’s specific architecture rather than assuming it’s a universal replacement for every firewall deployment.

How Do You Migrate From a Hardware Firewall to FWaaS?

Migrating from a hardware firewall to FWaaS requires careful planning because firewall policies often control critical business traffic and network connectivity.

Start by documenting the existing environment, including firewall rules, interfaces, NAT policies, VPN connections, applications, users, and traffic flows.

Organizations can then review existing rules, remove obsolete policies, and map the remaining requirements to the FWaaS platform. After configuring the new environment, test traffic before migrating to production.

A phased migration can reduce operational risk. Post-cutover monitoring can help identify performance, connectivity, or policy issues, while a rollback plan provides an additional safeguard until the new FWaaS environment is fully validated.

What Are the Disadvantages of FWaaS?

Although FWaaS can simplify firewall management, organizations should evaluate its potential limitations before adoption.

Because the firewall function is delivered through a cloud service, connectivity becomes an important consideration. Organizations should also evaluate potential latency, provider dependency, subscription costs, integration requirements, migration complexity, and the level of control available over the underlying infrastructure.

Feature compatibility is another consideration. A FWaaS platform may not provide every capability or configuration option available in an organization’s existing firewall environment. A technical assessment can help determine whether the service meets the organization’s security, performance, connectivity, and operational requirements.

How Do You Choose a FWaaS Provider?

Choosing a FWaaS provider requires evaluating both the underlying security technology and the provider’s ability to operate and support the service. Businesses should examine firewall capabilities, security controls, monitoring, availability, scalability, reporting, connectivity options, support models, SLA commitments, and integration capabilities.

The provider should also clearly explain how it manages firewall policies, handles security events, performs updates, supports migration, and divides responsibilities between the provider and customer.

For businesses outsourcing firewall management, provider experience is also important. Look for experience supporting distributed networks, cloud environments, remote users, branch connectivity, security monitoring, migration, and ongoing firewall optimization.

You can evaluate a managed service provider such as ExterNetworks against these criteria to determine whether its FWaaS capabilities align with your organization’s network architecture, security requirements, operational model, and support expectations.

Conclusion

If you know what is good for you, using a managed firewall and security service like ExterNetworks can work to your advantage. In addition to reduced costs, you will get comprehensive protection services, better data recovery, regular and relevant updates, simplified management, and more. Contact us today!