Does Your Business Need a Firewall? 4 Things to Consider

The world has seen a rapid digital ecosystem expansion across the board. Companies had to look for innovative ways to nurture the business while weathering unfathomable economic storms. At the same time, cybercriminals continue to evolve their threat tactics and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities in network security for financial gain. 

If you think your business doesn’t need a firewall, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll end up ruing your decision. A network firewall is your first line of defense when it comes to cybersecurity. 

Consider the following statistics:

• In 2021, the U.S. Treasury tied about $5.2 billion in Bitcoin transactions to ransomware payments
• Attacks on businesses and their supply chains increased by 42% over the last year
• Cyberattacks now top the Allianz Risk Barometer, beating both natural catastrophes and business interruptions

For any organization that still thinks the risk isn’t significant, let’s look at why your business needs a firewall as soon as possible. 

What is a Firewall?

In engineering terms, a firewall refers to a physical barrier between two system sections. If you’re still unclear about what a firewall does, let’s look at the principle behind these solutions. 

In cars and airplanes, a firewall is literally a fireproof barrier that protects drivers and pilots from any fires in the engine compartments. In network security, it acts in pretty much the same way by shielding the company’s networks and digital systems from outside intrusions. 

In networks, these system acts as a gateway for both incoming and outgoing network traffic. It establishes the rules for each packet of data that seeks to enter the network and maintains a list of suspicious sources commonly used to deliver malicious code into the organization’s networks and systems.

4 Reasons Why Every Business Needs a Firewall

With the rise of cybercrimes, there is now an implicit requirement to do everything you can to protect your data and secure your networks. Here are four reasons why you need to have a firewall as part of your network security. 

1. It’s Your First Line of Defense against Cyberattacks

With improved attack tactics, your firewall is the first line of defense against bad actors. Without a firewall, cybercriminals can deploy sophisticated exploits like ransomware into your network that will automatically sniff out your digital assets (and private information) and start extracting this information to leverage against your company. Network Address Translation (NAT) may bridge internal and external network communication but won’t block incoming requests.

One of the main benefits of a firewall is that it protects your company’s internal networks from external users who don’t have the authorization to connect to your systems. 

2. Protects Your Users from Within

Although attacks from outside present the biggest concern to businesses, it’s often internal user behavior that creates the conditions for a cyberattack to succeed. With a firewall, you can limit internet usage and access to websites from your users to mitigate the risks of them clicking on an infected link or visiting dubious websites. 

Firewalls help you establish rules for the safe use of external, digital resources and limit the risks of malicious code entering the network. 

3. Firewalls Help Meter Network Traffic

Firewalls provide you with greater control over how your employees use the network. You can set limits on specific internet resources like social media sites and video streaming services. Limiting the bandwidth to specific sites can improve your network efficiency and ensure that your staff uses the internet for work-related activities. 

A network firewall helps you control all outgoing traffic and limit what your staff can access during working hours. 

4. Improves the Security during Remote Work

With a firewall, you can also deploy Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to improve the security of your remote workers accessing internal files and applications. A VPN provides encryption between the two end-points (the remote connection and internal company resources), protecting the information during transit between the two nodes. 

A firewall is an essential tool that helps strengthen your security perimeter for remote workers. 

Improve Your Network Security with a Firewall from Plus Inc.

To start taking proactive steps to protect your network with a firewall, you’ll need expert advice from a team of network security professionals. Plus Inc. provides managed IT services and solutions that help protect businesses and set you up for continued success. As more cyberattacks are putting today’s companies out of business, you’ll need someone who can help you navigate the pitfalls of modern cybersecurity best practices. 

If you need to discuss the benefits of a firewall with a network security expert, reach out to Plus Inc. today.