As the World Wide Web and Internet-connected technologies have become increasingly advanced, so have the methods in which black hat hackers try to infiltrate software and cause untold carnage. Even for personal users, not to mind businesses, network security isn’t so much a welcome state of affairs as a total necessity.
Next Gen Firewalls (NGFWs) vs Traditional Firewalls
The implementation of an effective firewall is one of the ways in which we can help to protect our computers from the ever-present threat of hackers. Traditional firewalls have generally been sufficient in acting as a ‘thou shalt not pass’ barrier to threats, but with technology never standing still for a moment, many computer users are now turning to next gen firewalls (NGFWs) to provide a level of protection which goes deeper than ever before.
Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are deep-packet inspection firewalls which move beyond port/protocol inspection to provide a level of protection that would not be within the capabilities of traditional firewalls.
Aside from deeper protection, NGFWs also need to be capable of working across a range of devices, with so many people now switching seamlessly between smartphones, tablets and laptop computers. Their multi-tenancy capability and plug-and-play functionality allows for ease of use across multiple devices, a major plus in today’s technological landscape.
How to Keep Your Computer Free from Malware and Hacks
There’s nothing to say that you can’t or shouldn’t use traditional firewalls – it certainly beats having none at all – but if you truly want to keep your system free from malware and hacks, NGFWs are a must. Their intelligence in being able to determine which application is running on which port is a cut above anything a traditional firewall could provide. Also, if you are upgrading from a traditional firewall, the transition to an NGFW is easy to manage through bridged modes.
The welfare of your computer system is not something on which you should be prepared to gamble. Do not give the bad guys an open invitation to infiltrate your system. There’s nothing better than an NGFW for weeding out illegitimate traffic and diverting it far away from your system.
Next Gen Firewalls (NGFWs) Infographic
For more information about Next Generation Firewall Technology (NGFW), here’s a well-informed infographic of next gen firewalls (NGFWs) from Exigent Networks.
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