A firewall is a protective system that is between the computer network and the Internet. Cloud Firewalls are software-based small network devices which are used to prevent unwanted and unauthorised access to the network. They are very important for network securities and many businesses use them to sustain a protected online environment.

Why do we use them?

• Deployment of the cloud firewall is very easy. We can adjust the strength of security without the difficulties of on-site installation, maintenance and upgrading. They have proven to be very effective against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
• Cloud Firewalls provide us with many features such as redundant power, HVAC, automatic backup and network services. Updating these with the latest security patches and software is very easy.
• There is no restriction of areas which can be covered or where they can be installed unlike in the case of onsight devices.
• The traffic can be filtered very easily.
• They provide advanced access and connection management system.

There are two types of cloud firewalls: SaaS Firewalls, which are deployed off-site from the cloud, and Next-Generation Firewalls, which are deployed within a virtual data centre.

Also read: What is a proxy server? Why and when to use one?

Cloud vs Hardware Firewall

The Hardware Firewall is installed between the local network of computers and the Internet. The firewall checks the data coming in from the Internet and passes all the safety data packets and blocks the potentially dangerous packets.

In order to properly protect a network, we need hardware firewall experts whereas no experts are required in case of cloud firewall.

Cloud firewalls are installed on all the individual computers on a network. In contrast to hardware firewalls, cloud firewalls are able to distinguish between different programs on a computer system very easily. This feature helps them to provide data to one application or program while blocking the other applications/programs.

Cloud firewalls also have an additional feature that allows them to filter incoming as well as outgoing data. The only drawback in the case of cloud firewall is that they require installation, updation and administration at each individual computer. Additionally, cloud firewalls may also provide privacy controls, web filtering and more.

The use of hardware and cloud firewalls depends upon the requirements of the user. For best protection from cyber-attacks and unauthorised access to the confidential data, it is recommended to use both types of firewall. Hardware firewalls are especially designed for faster response times and it can also handle more traffic loads. They also inspect all the major protocols like SMTP, POP3, IMAP, FTP and HTTP.

Also read: What is Windows Firewall? Is it good enough? Everything you need to know