discussion-replies-network-security

Main que:What are some characteristics to consider when selecting a firewall?

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sru-selecting a Firewall

Firewall selection is one of the important factors to be considered before implementing and release it to the world. There are a few characteristics that need to be considered in the process of selecting the firewall. Before selecting the firewall, the organization corresponding IT team or business should make sure that the organization has a written security policy written. A firewall that is selected should be able to fulfill the functionalities it is supposed to fulfill and comply with the policy (Stewart, 2014). Firewalls need to be evaluated while selecting and sufficient time should be taken to evaluate the levels of security the firewall provides. A high cost obviously does not mean high quality.

Characteristics to consider

Besides the security levels the firewall provides, there are several characteristics and featured that need to be considered during the selection of the firewall. Security assurance is one of the characteristics so the firewall technology that is relevant meets the specification of the firewall security to be performed. Privilege control is another characteristic that tells about the degree to which the product controls the user access restrictions. All the users or employees cannot have all the access to all the applications. There are several limitations to the access provided to different groups in the company. The firewall should be able to recognize the limitations and avoid unauthorized access by the users at the organization. The other important characteristic is authentication. Stewart, 2014 stated that the firewall selected should have the ability to authenticate the appropriate clients and different types of access control for different users.

Audit capabilities is another characteristic that a firewall should have. The firewall should have the ability to monitor the network traffic, logs generated and statistical reports. The logs include both authorized traffic and unauthorized attempts and the firewall should monitor and log all the entries possible to have a better idea of the security of the network provided. Flexibility, performance and scalability, ease of use and customer support are the several important features that any firewall should have (Stewart, 2014).

srin-A firewall is a critical component if a company is planning to establish proper network security. security is mostly the foundation of a wireless platform especially when you are planning on mobility and wireless security devices. We have different types of firewalls which means choosing the right firewall matters. To choose the right one, we have a few characteristics to consider it has been discussed below.

The first characteristic to consider in a firewall is the visibility and the control it may have won the applications. For example, the traditional port-based firewalls can only provide limited control and visibility on the applications and the end-users (Al-Shaer & Hamed, 2004). You will not be able to find the target audience with that which means you have to choose contemporary firewalls with some policy is applicable to certain end-users that will help them get the access to the part of your portal that will be useful for them.

The second would be the protection and prevention the firewall can provide against the threats. The next-gen firewalls will be able to see and control the applications and sensitive details on the wireless network (Douglas Blansit, 2009). Due to the same, the traffic can be limited that will limit the risks in turn as only the approved applications will be used. It will also improve the overall Wi-Fi performance as the reduced approvals will also lessen the bandwidth consumption.

Likewise, the throughput has to be proper and the access must be under your control. You should be able to allow remote users to work for you (Gold, 2011). The security infrastructure must be streamlined and fix the security-based needs making it costly and ineffective. Instead of adding more and more components to make the security system complicated, you can rather choose the proper firewall and complete the security infrastructure in a simple manner to ensure efficient handling.