Ransomware is up. IoT attacks are up. Encrypted threats are up. In a rapidly changing IT landscape — one characterized by companies rushing headlong into the cloud, network traffic percent increases in the double digits, and BYOD and remote work policies — cybercriminals are enjoying unprecedented opportunities. And protecting against these attacks is becoming increasingly challenging, as businesses need to safeguard multiple attack surfaces and implement the latest security controls to keep up.
The enterprise perimeter now extends to anywhere work gets done. And all entry points need to be protected. Firewalls have evolved as well and are an essential security defense to protect an enterprise perimeter.
Today's firewalls are more agile, more capable, and more powerful than when the technology debuted 20 years ago. As enterprises consider these next-generation firewalls (NGFW), several criteria should be considered, including features, platform capabilities, performance, and management.
