Firewalls remain an integral part of modern cybersecurity postures, but evolving networks and the cyberattacks that threaten them have forced firewalls to become much more complex. You must now configure myriad rules, continually update firmware, monitor traffic to prevent bottlenecks, and investigate suspicious activity constantly to ensure your firewall protects you.
For complex business networks, managed firewall services, a specialized kind of managed cybersecurity, accomplish these tasks efficiently without requiring you to build a larger and more expensive in-house security team.
What are managed firewall services?
A managed firewall service combines firewall technology — both software and hardware — with ongoing management handled by a specialized third-party provider. Your provider configures the firewall, manages security policies, continuously monitors activity, applies updates, and responds to issues.
These services, similar to other “as-a-Service” solutions, hand responsibility over to experts, eliminating the need to buy a firewall and manage it yourself. If you go the “traditional” route, you can still filter internet traffic, but your team remains responsible for keeping its configuration secure and current.
If your business changes or new kinds of cyberattacks threaten your network, you must put the time, money, and research into maintaining effective protection. However, Firewall-as-a-Service keeps your cybersecurity posture current with minimal effort required from your team.
Key features of firewall management services
The exact service varies by provider, but comprehensive firewall management typically includes:
- Firewall configuration and security policy management
- 24/7 monitoring and alert response
- Firmware updates and security patching
- Regular firewall rule reviews and tuning
- VPN and secure remote access management
- Network traffic analysis and threat detection
- Logging, reporting, and compliance documentation
- Configuration backups and disaster recovery support
Ask your IT team, and they’ll tell you: firewall rules can get out of control as you add applications, employees, locations, vendors, and cloud services. Managed firewall services save your team time and headaches while reducing your risk by handling rule changes, ensuring outdated configurations aren’t slowing you down or creating vulnerabilities.
Which kinds of businesses benefit most from managed firewall services?
Managed firewall services can benefit businesses of many sizes, but they become particularly valuable for larger businesses and organizations of any size that have complex networks.
You are a strong candidate if you:
- Operate multiple offices
- Support remote users
- Rely heavily on cloud applications
- Handle large amounts of external internet traffic
- Have a lean IT security team
- Are subject to strict data security regulations (PCI DDS, HIPAA, etc.)
For an enterprise organization, managing firewalls across multiple locations and network environments can become a significant operational burden. A managed provider gives you a centralized approach while providing access to specialized expertise.
Firewall-as-a-Service vs. doing it in-house
When you manage your firewall internally, your IT staff handles configuration, monitoring, maintenance, troubleshooting, and security updates. That can work for a simple, low-risk environment with sufficient expertise and staffing.
As your network grows, however, the demands grow with it, and you become a bigger target for cyberattacks. The higher your complexity, the more the pros and cons of these approaches shift to favor the managed option.
Improved cybersecurity
A firewall is not a fire-and-forget solution; it’s only as effective as its configuration and management. Outdated firmware, overly broad rules, forgotten exceptions, and improper settings can weaken an otherwise capable security tool.
With managed firewall security, cybersecurity professionals continuously monitor your firewall and adjust its policies as your network and the threat landscape change. Your provider can also coordinate firewall security functions with other controls, such as network segmentation, endpoint protection, secure remote access, and broader incident response.
This continuous oversight increases in value as your IT environment grows. Instead of your internal team checking on the firewall when they can during business hours, expert eyes are always watching to ensure nothing slips through the net.
Long-term cost savings
On the surface, taking a DIY approach to your firewall may appear less expensive than paying for a managed service. You already have IT employees, after all. But while there may be short-term savings, the true DIY cost includes salaries, training, security tools, maintenance, and after-hours coverage, and that’s just the start. The time your staff spends on routine firewall administration stifles your productivity and thus profits, to say nothing of the astronomical costs of a data breach.
A managed firewall service replaces many of these high, unpredictable expenses with a fixed service cost, which will typically be much less than the additional internal personnel costs. More importantly, however, better maintenance and monitoring can reduce the likelihood of costly security incidents and extended downtime.
Scaling is also cheaper, because as your network expands, your managed services automatically grow alongside it, preventing high capital expenditure and downtime.
Reduced management burden
Firewall administration can consume substantial IT resources. Again, just ask your internal IT security team. They’ll tell you about all the more productive things they’d rather be doing besides spending hours reviewing rules, applying patches, investigating alerts, troubleshooting connectivity, and documenting changes.
Outsourcing these tasks allows your internal IT staff to spend time on projects that directly support your business and put more focus on other cyberthreats.
Better still, firewall services can also provide after-hours monitoring, so your team does not have to remain on call whenever an alert occurs (and you don’t have to pay overtime).
What to look for in a managed firewall service provider
As with all managed services, the quality of service you get depends on your provider. When comparing providers, look beyond the firewall hardware or software they use and choose one with high expertise and experience, such as Soteria.
We specialize in providing a broad range of managed services for medium-sized to enterprise businesses with complex networks and IT needs, including managed firewall solutions.
Our services include:
- 24/7 monitoring and response: We’ll actively investigate alerts rather than simply collect firewall logs.
- Experienced security professionals: We’ve been in business for over a decade and have proven expertise with complex, distributed network environments.
- Proactive maintenance: Firewall updates, patches, rule reviews, and configuration checks are all included.
- Scalability: We can quickly expand your services to support new offices, cloud environments, remote users, and increased traffic as you grow.
- Clear reporting: You’ll get useful information about firewall activity, security events, changes, and unresolved risks to keep you informed and in compliance with data protection regulations.
- Strong integration: Our extensive expertise enables us to coordinate with your broader IT and cybersecurity environment.
Schedule a free consultation with Soteria today to learn how to maximize your firewall’s protection while reducing long-term costs and streamlining management for your IT team.