When it comes to maintaining comprehensive IT infrastructure security, having an up-to-date firewall in place is crucial. That’s why the seventh step in the Stratosphere Networks process of securing your IT involves updating/upgrading your firewall.
If you’ve been following our series on safeguarding your infrastructure, you’ve made a lot of progress so far. Here are the six previous steps in the process if you’re just starting out or would like to review anything.
1. Performing a security audit
2. Creating and enforcing IT security policies
3. Updating your anti-virus solution
4. Updating workstations and servers
5. Guarding your email with a hosted spam solution
6. Implementing a hosted DNS solution
If you’re ready for the seventh step, here’s everything you need to know about ensuring that your firewall has the capabilities it needs to fend off ever-changing cybersecurity threats.
Why You Need to Update Your Firewall
Your firewall is a set of related programs that protect your network’s resources from users in other networks. It looks at data to decide if it should be forwarded to its destination or not and stops unauthorized users (including hackers and cybercriminals) from gaining access to sensitive information.
IT security threats evolve every day and will only become more dynamic and better at exploiting vulnerabilities, so it’s important for every business to safeguard data with cutting edge solutions and services. If your firewall is out of date, you’re increasing your risk of suffering a data breach that could devastate your organization financially and otherwise.
Upgrading to a Next-Generation Firewall
You might want to consider a next-generation firewall (NGFW) solution for your business. A NGFW can give you a considerable edge in keeping sensitive data safe from cyber criminals. Here are just some of the advantages a next-gen firewall solution could potentially offer for your organization:
- Faster malware detection
- Easier to operate because of one consolidated interface for security functions
- Next-gen intrusion prevention systems
- Capability to correlate threats with network vulnerabilities
- Network analysis abilities to pinpoint weaknesses and recommend solutions
The number of data breaches has kept growing in recent years, and businesses of all sizes and across all industries are potential targets for hackers seeking access to personal/sensitive information. Implementing a NGFW solution could make a big difference in protecting your IT infrastructure from increasingly dynamic threats.
Come back next week for the eighth step in the process of making your IT infrastructure more secure. For now, if you want to find out more about upgrading your firewall, our expert techs can tell you everything you need to know about firewalls and other IT security solutions. Feel free to reach out to us by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
