What is a firewall?

A firewall is a network device that acts as a protective shield to your network by applying conditions given by the IT department. These conditions define what each rule will do, as well as what traffic is allowed or denied. This is why admins need to be cautious while working on firewall configurations, ensuring there are no errors while specifying these rules.

Faulty rules can create doorways through which malicious actors can carry out attacks. For instance, if an admin erroneously applies a rule that allows unwanted traffic, it can lead to unauthorized data transmission or a major network breach.

How Much Managed Firewall Services Can Save You

One of the first questions many business owners have about hiring a managed firewall service provider is:
“How much will it cost me?”

This is a perfectly natural question to have. But, here’s the better question:
“How much can using a managed firewall service save me?”

In any cost/benefit analysis, it’s always important to assess the risk of using or ignoring a particular tool or resource. In the case of not using managed firewall solutions, the risk can be quite high.

For example, how much productivity would your business lose if a poorly-optimized firewall configuration caused legitimate access requests to fail? Or, how much would it cost your business if an improper firewall configuration let a cybercriminal breach your network? According to Ponemon, a breach would cost you about $3.86 million on average.

So, when weighing the cost of managed firewall services, consider the price you might have to pay if you don’t have a well-managed firewall.

Another cost factor you should balance when considering a managed firewall solution is what it would cost you to manage the firewalls your company needs entirely in-house. Cybersecurity experts can be costly to hire, onboard, and train—with salaries easily reaching six figures a year before benefits. And, considering the shortage of skilled cybersecurity engineers, it’s a jobseeker’s market, not an employer’s market.

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