The future of Zero Trust security relies greatly on next-generation firewalls (NGFWs). NGFWs are classified by Gartner Research as "deep packet inspection firewalls that incorporate software inspection, intrusion prevention, and the injection of intelligence from outside the firewall in addition to protocol inspection and blocking." As per Gartner, an NGFW should not be mistaken for a standalone network intrusion prevention system (IPS) that combines a regular firewall and an uncoordinated IPS in the same device.
Significance of Next-Generation Firewalls
1. Substantial expense in ML and AI
As part of zero-trust security management goals, NGFW providers are boosting their assets in ML and AI to distinguish themselves from competitors or provide higher value. Analytical tools, user and device behavior analysis, automated threat detection and response, and development are all focused on identifying possible security issues before they happen. NGFWs can continuously learn and react to the shifting threat landscape by utilizing AI and ML, resulting in a more effective Zero Trust approach to defending against cyberattacks.
2. Contribution of a Zero Trust
By removing implicit trust and regularly confirming each level of a digital transaction, the zero trust approach to cybersecurity safeguards a business. Strong authentication techniques, network segmentation, limiting lateral movement, offering Layer 7 threat prevention, and easing granular, least access restrictions are all used to defend modern settings and facilitate digital transformation.
Due to a lack of nuanced security measures, this implicit trust means that once on the network, users, including threat actors and malevolent insiders, are free to travel laterally and access or exfiltrate sensitive data. A Zero Trust strategy is now more important than ever as digitalization accelerates in the shape of a rising hybrid workforce, ongoing cloud migration, and the change of security operations.
3. Threat monitoring to enforce least privilege access
Device software for NGFWs, such as Patch management tasks can be handled by IT teams less frequently because updates are distributed in milliseconds and are transparent to administrators.
NGFWs that interface with Zero Trust environments has automated firmware patch updates, IPS, application control, automated malware analysis, IPsec tunneling, TLS decryption, IoT security, and network traffic management (SD-WAN) patch updates.
NGFWs used by Microsoft Azure supply Zero Trust
By enabling businesses to impose stringent access rules and segment their networks into distinct security zones, Microsoft Azure leverages next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) to deliver zero-trust security. This enhances the overall network security posture.
Azure Firewall can be set up to monitor traffic in addition to regulating it, looking for risks and anomalies, and taking appropriate action. In an effort for this, malicious communications can be blocked, infected devices can be quarantined, and security staff can be made aware of potential dangers.
NGFW firms are investing more in AI and ML to further distinguish their solutions. Companies must continue to enhance API connections, particularly with IPS, SIEM systems, and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions. They must also concentrate on how software-defined networking (SDN) might increase adaptability while supplying finer-grained control over network traffic. A well-implemented Zero Trust architecture not only produces improved overall security levels but also lower security intricacy and operational overhead.
