4 Reasons to Consider a Managed Firewall

Managed Firewall – As the first line of defense in your business network security, a secure firewall is one of the most important pieces of your network’s infrastructure. Without it, any hacker or intruder could easily access your critical and confidential information.

With more and more sophisticated threats developing every day, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the curve in keeping your business protected. It takes more than just purchasing a piece of hardware, plugging it in, and calling it good.

Whether you have a dedicated IT person within your company or not, there are numerous benefits to having a professionally managed firewall. Here are a few of them:

24/7 Monitoring and Alerting

As is the case with most Managed IT Service offerings, the benefits of having your network monitored 24/7 are countless. This is especially true for your firewall. With a Managed Firewall service, your firewall is continually monitored to ensure that it is online, up to date, and that any alerts are acted on appropriately. This is vital to ensure that network attacks are avoided due to unnecessary downtime or unseen issues.

Team of certified experts

While having a remote team monitoring your firewall is comforting, knowing that the remote services are provided by a team of certified security professionals will allow you to sleep easy. These certified firewall security administrators are trained and certified by security vendors and are experienced in configuring and managing firewalls, keeping them up to date, and troubleshooting issues to create a resolution.

No license renewals

License renewals can be one of the ongoing annoyances in any IT department. In general, at least once a year your licensing must be renewed at a cost that is probably higher than last year. With a Managed Firewall solution, your cost is fixed from month to month so you always know what to expect. In addition, any licensing is taken care of by the IT service provider, taking that hassle out of your hands.

Reporting

Knowledge of what activity is taking place on your network can be incredibly insightful to understand how many threats were avoided, where they are coming from, and where you may have any weaknesses in your security. A Managed Firewall solution can also provide information on bandwidth usage over time as well as web usage, even down to a particular workstation, which can give insight into how effectively your team is using their time.