Is a Firewall Enough to Protect Your Information?
According to a recent report from Forbes, approximately 80 percent of businesses and organizations lack the proper cybersecurity protections. A firewall is one of the important cybersecurity defense tools. This raises an important question: Is a firewall truly enough to protect your sensitive information? Unfortunately, the answer is generally ‘no’—while firewalls offer critically important cybersecurity protection, there are limitations.
What is a Firewall?
Most people have a general familiarity with firewalls, but few understand what they actually do to protect your network. In the computer world, a firewall is essentially a type of network-wide security system. A firewall will monitor and control network traffic flowing in both directions based on certain pre-set instructions. In other words, a firewall is designed to create a barricade between a trusted network (the internal network) and an untrusted, external network (the internet).
In practice, there are several different types of firewalls. Some firewalls are hardware, others are software. All modern computer operating systems have a built-in software firewall to provide some basic protection. Hardware firewalls tend to be more effective, but they are also more expensive to set up. A hardware firewall is a dedicated system that scans a network and blocks traffic that might cause damage.
Know the Limitations of a Firewall
Firewalls are an essential part of a modern cybersecurity system. Every business and organization should utilize firewalls to protect sensitive information. At the same time, neither software firewalls nor hardware firewalls are entirely impenetrable. By their very structure, firewalls carry certain limitations. Most importantly, firewalls cannot filter out traffic that has been “authorized” or that comes through a “trusted” application. In effect, this means that firewalls are somewhat ineffective against certain cybersecurity schemes. Here are some of the key vulnerabilities of firewalls:
Struggle to Block Phishing Schemes: Phishing schemes are designed to “trick” a trusted, authorized user into giving up access to their network or sharing confidential information. Firewalls offer limited utility against phishing attacks.
Cannot Protect Against Many Human Errors: Similarly, firewalls struggle to stop other cybersecurity threats that are designed to take advantage of human errors. Ultimately, firewalls rely on human users to take the correct actions.
Regular Updates Needed: Cybersecurity criminals and hackers are constantly changing their strategies. A firewall must be updated regularly to remain effective. Not only is an out-of-date firewall ineffective in stopping cyber attacks, it can cause other problems for your network.
How to Supplement Your Cybersecurity System
Every network should have a strong firewall in place. Yet, firewalls are rarely enough to provide comprehensive cybersecurity protection. Companies and organizations should supplement their cybersecurity system. One of the most useful tools is called an intrusion detection system (IDS). A form of software, an IDS continuously monitors a network for malicious activity and/or policy violations. Intrusion detection systems are often an effective way to quickly identify any breaches of a firewall. Other cybersecurity strategies, including strong anti-virus software and well-designed staff training, can be highly effective as well.