Are You Trusting A Consumer-Grade Firewall To Protect Your Business?
Who wouldn’t want to save some money by using a consumer-grade alternative to the business-class standard cybersecurity software if it doesn’t make a difference? The problem is, it does. You need a next-generation WatchGuard firewall to keep your business safe.
It’s not uncommon for businesses to cut corners here and there. Especially when it comes to saving money, many businesses, new and old, will opt for the cheaper of two options if it means keeping costs down.
This is especially true when it comes to IT. More often than not, businesses will choose free, consumer, and trial-based options instead of buying outright, paying for licenses, or investing in the premium solution.
While this may occasionally be a practical decision, say, in terms of choosing a cheaper option because it fits the scope of a small business, there’s one area in which this will always be the wrong choice – cybersecurity.
It should go without saying, but you’d be surprised how many businesses rely on cheap or free consumer-grade security software to keep their network safe.
Case in point? The firewall.
What Is A Firewall?
Your firewall is your first line of defense for keeping your information safe. A firewall is a particular type of solution that maintains the security of your network. It blocks unauthorized users from gaining access to your data. Firewalls are deployed via hardware, software, or a combination of the two. Many businesses also employ data encryption for an extra layer of security.
A firewall inspects and filters incoming and outgoing data in the following ways.
- Packet Filtering inspects incoming and outgoing data and accepts or rejects it depending on your predefined rules.
- Via an Application Gateway that applies security to applications like Telnet (a software program that can access remote computers and terminals over the Internet, or a TCP/IP computer network) and File Transfer Protocol Servers.
- By using a Circuit-Level Gateway when a connection such as a Transmission Control Protocol is made, and small pieces called packets are transported.
- With Proxy Servers: Proxy servers mask your true network address and capture every message that enters or leaves your network.
- Using Stateful Inspection or Dynamic Packet Filtering to compare a packet’s critical data parts. These are compared to a trusted information database to decide if the information is authorized.
It’s estimated that the global cybercrime industry will cause up to $6 trillion in damages in just a few years. Today, the average phishing attack costs businesses $1.6 million, and the average cost for all expenses involved in a ransomware attack is $732,520, and double that, for organizations that pay the ransom.
To avoid these costs and fight rapidly evolving and diverse cybersecurity threats, you need next-generation cybersecurity protection.
You Need WatchGuard Protection
WatchGuard is an industry-leader in Unified Threat Management (UTM), and one of the most recognized services of its type available on the market today. WatchGuard offers two levels of comprehensive security platforms:
Basic Security Suite
- Intrusion Prevention Service (IPS): Scans all ports and protocols to provide in-line protection from attacks
- Application Control: Blocks risky, unauthorized and inappropriate apps for security and productivity
- WebBlocker (URL/Content Filtering): Provides URL and content filtering to block objectionable material & malware
- spamBlocker (Anti-Spam): Blocks spam regardless of language, format, or content of the message
- Gateway AntiVirus (GAV): Uses both signatures and sophisticated heuristic analysis to stop threats
- Reputation Enabled Defense (RED): Faster, safer web surfing with special botnet detection capabilities
- Network Discovery: A visual map of all nodes on the network for easy identification of risk and suspicious behavior
- Data Retention: 1 Day WatchGuard Cloud Visibility Data Retention
- Support: Standard 24/7 Support
Total Security Suite
In addition to all features offered by the Basic Security Suite, the Total Security Suite provides your business with:
- APT Blocker: Uses award-winning sandboxing technology to detect and block advanced malware and zero-day attacks
- Data Loss Prevention: Detects and prevents sensitive data from leaving the network
- Threat Detection and Response: Collects, correlates and analyzes network and endpoint data to detect, prioritize, and enable immediate action to stop threats
- DNSWatch: Reduce malware infections by detecting and blocking malicious DNS requests, redirecting users to a safe page with information to reinforce security best practices
- Access Portal: Provides a central location for access to cloud-hosted applications and secure, clientless access to internal resources and RDP and SSH
- IntelligentAV: Uses AI to provide predictive protection against zero-day malware
- Dimension Command: Block potential and active network threats identified using the visibility provided by Dimension
- Data Retention: 30 Day WatchGuard Cloud Visibility Data Retention
- Support: Gold 24/7 Support
Need Expert Assistance Deploying Your WatchGuard Cybersecurity Technologies?
While you may understand that you need next-generation protection, now you have to go about implementing it at your business. It’s a lot of work to handle it on your own – but you don’t have to.
Instead, you can choose to work with a trusted, expert IT services company like Outsource IT Solutions Group. We have experience working with firewalls, cybersecurity technology, and businesses like yours – we can help you make the right choice and handle the set-up for you from beginning to end.
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Outsource IT Solutions Group Is Available To Help Get Your Business Working Remotely
