4 Reasons Your Organization Needs Managed Firewall Protection

According to Gartner, “through 2023, 99% of firewall breaches will be caused by firewall misconfigurations, not firewall flaws."1

For effective security, your organization needs knowledgeable security experts to ensure proper configuration, patching, and tuning of your firewalls.

However, acquiring the talent to fulfill such hefty tasks in the global cybersecurity skills shortage we're experiencing today has led many organizations to turn to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) for Managed Firewall Protection services.

Here’s why your organization should follow the trend:

What does Managed Firewall Protection entail?

Managing your organization’s firewall is one of the many cybersecurity solutions offered by MSSPs to improve your overall cybersecurity posture. The service typically includes these features:

  • Assessing your security threats and monitoring network traffic
  • Establishing, maintaining, and modifying firewall rules
  • Providing feedback, reports, and analysis on any abnormal traffic patterns
  • Continuously patching and updating to combat the latest threats

Depending on your organization's needs, some MSSPs will also perform firewall installation, application control, and web content filtering.

Why Most Organizations Turn to Managed Firewall Protection Services 

Unfortunately, comprehensive firewall maintenance and configuration isn't a set-and-forget task. Proper configuration requires a specific skillset. If done incorrectly, it could leave security gaps and vulnerabilities, which cybercriminals will eventually exploit.

Good firewall management requires constant tweaking and maintenance, especially in today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. With a new cyberattack happening every 39 seconds2, you can't afford to take any chances.

You need deep expertise and constant vigilance- capabilities often beyond that of in-house IT departments.

That is why most organizations choose to outsource this burden to MSSPs, so that they can focus on their business without having to spend additional resources and time that they simply don't have.

4 Reasons Why Your Organization Should Utilize a Managed Firewall Service

A firewall is your organization's first line of defense, but it only works when properly set up.

A more efficient scenario is to let your IT department tend to the IT needs of your business, while you outsource your cybersecurity and firewall management to an MSSP dedicated and qualified to handling to your security.

Here's five reasons why your company should outsource firewall management to a qualified MSSP:

1. Put expert eyes on your firewalls

Comprehensive firewall management requires expertise that is likely to be outside the capabilities of your existing IT department.

By outsourcing firewall management services to an MSSP, however, you'll have access to their expert security operations team. They will know how to properly configure your firewall, upkeep patch management, and continuously mitigate threats before they have the chance to harm your organization.

These experts will also ensure that your firewall protection is always up to date with the latest security patches and latest version upgrades, allowing your firewall to operate at its maximum potential.

2. Maintain compliance with proper configuration and management

Firewalls (and their proper management and configuration) are required for compliance mandates such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Your organization risks a hefty fine if they fail to meet these compliance standards.

For instance, Anthem Inc. made history in 2018 for incurring the largest HIPAA violation penalty3 thus far at $16 million, following a major cybersecurity breach—an extreme example of damages your organization could suffer for poor compliance.

3. 24x7x365 Network Monitoring

Your in-house IT department may only operate during business hours, but hackers don't. Waiting until the next business day to address your organization's threats will have left far too much time for a cyberattack to have done it's damage.

Managed firewall protection services will provide 24x7x365 monitoring and threat detection to ensure around-the clock-safety of your organization's security.

4. Lower Costs

One of the biggest hurdles an organization faces when trying to develop an in-house cybersecurity team is the high cost.

One security analyst costs over $100k per year4 alone, and you would need several to handle the workload of managing your entire organization's cybersecurity.

However, with an MSSP, you'd outsource your security to a team of deeply experienced experts who will handle your managed firewall protection services. This is a value add-on service that will lower costs and provide better ROI for your organization.

What Makes Digital Hands' Managed Firewall Protection Superior?

Unlike other MSSPs, Digital Hands' Managed Firewall Protection onboarding process for new customers is exceptionally detailed. Depending on your existing firewall protection setup, we will provide comprehensive tuning and best practices that you won't experience elsewhere.

You'll have access to our team of security operations experts who will actively monitor your network 24x7x365. We'll also maintain version upgrades and continuously fine-tune your firewall protection so that you can get ahead of your threats before the bad guys.

Managed Firewall Blog Post

Our Managed Firewall Protection service also includes bundled Proactive Threat Blocking- an added layer of protection that blocks malicious threats before every hitting your network.

Proactive Threat Blocking

The Proactive Threat Blocking service uses our curated Harbinger Threat Intelligence to automatically create blocking rules for your firewalls, SIEM, and endpoints. Your organization will also have access to CyGuard Maestro™, the heart of our security fabric. CyGuard Maestro™ dramatically speeds up our incident response time, allowing you to Get There First- every time.

About Digital Hands

Top 250 MSSP-DH-44

As a new kind of MSSP, Digital Hands is how organizations are getting ahead of the bad guys in a world where compliance alone is no guarantee of protection. Too many companies invest in cybersecurity solutions, follow the recommendations, achieve compliance … and then still get breached. You’ve got to get to your exposures before the bad guys do.

 

1 The Dangers of Firewall Misconfigurations and How to Avoid Them; Guardicore
2 How Many Cyber Attacks Happen Per Day in 2022?; Tech Jury
3 2020-2021 HIPAA Violation Cases and Penalties; HIPPA Journal
4 Information Security Analysts Salary; US Bureau of Labor Statistics

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