Firewalls are vital for a robust security posture. They help in protecting network traffic and sensitive data. Firewalls are also a security requirement by regulations, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST, CMMC, and GDPR, among others.

Companies that do not have the internal capacity for comprehensive firewall management can outsource to a managed service provider (MSP). Most companies with internal IT teams also choose to use IT services in Los Angeles for firewall management so they can focus on critical business goals.

The Common Challenges in Firewall Management

A high degree of expertise and visibility of the entire IT architecture are needed for comprehensive firewall management. Firewalls are hardly a set-it-and-forget kind of security control. From the initial purchasing and configuration to the day-to-day management, your team will need to be on point with every detail.

High Costs

• Firewalls, just like every other security control, are dynamic and continually evolving. Your business needs the latest firewall technology to withstand the sophisticated nature of today’s cyber threats. All the costs in the acquisition, ownership, and management of firewalls can be crippling to small businesses.
• Managed firewall services can help to keep these costs down. They can help in budgeting for cost-effective purchases and increase cost efficiency in maintenance and management.

Enterprise Firewalls

• You would need enterprise firewalls to watch over your large complex networks. Managing a single firewall is already an involving task, and the work is multiplied with every new firewall addition to your infrastructure. Staffing challenges and skills shortage and the risk of security issues from oversight are some of the challenges with enterprise firewalls
• Expert providers of IT services Los Angeles are better equipped to manage the resources and costs for the better protection of your data.

Real-Time Monitoring and Management

• A few minutes when your firewall is down could mean serious security threats with the potential to sink your entire business. Most firewalls are software-based, and therefore your IT teams need to closely monitor them and carry out patch management to seal off potential vulnerabilities.
• Apart from firewall program updates, the tech team similarly needs to ensure that as your firewall blocks hostile traffic, it doesn’t accidentally impede legitimate traffic requests.
• A painstaking custom configuration of your firewalls for all traffic types is always needed. Creating a secure network segmentation, on the other hand, helps to minimize the amount of data that attackers can access all at once.

Time

• All these firewall management responsibilities can become overwhelming for a business with a small internal IT team, that’s where managed firewall services come in. Reliability and consistency are attainable with managed firewall services.

Instead of a few persons taking care of configurations, network segmentation, and monitoring, you get a whole company to handle these tasks for a robust cybersecurity posture.

Advanced Networks provides best-in-class IT services for Los Angeles businesses. Firewall management is one of our specialties, and we have the A-team and state-of-the-art resources for that. Contact us now to find out how we can improve your cybersecurity while keeping costs low.