While enterprise network topology may have changed over time and the access of personal devices on professional networks increasing, the role of firewalls in networks as a primary defense still remains although coupled with the role as primary connection point for mobile devices by workers. This comes as an increasing trend of employees taking advantage of mobile technologies and becoming part-time teleworkers.

If network administrators previously thought of firewalls as an impenetrable wall to keep out outside access, University of Notre Dame information security professional Mike Chapple believes that they should also be able to turn the firewalls into a secure access points via a virtual private network to accommodate mobile devices.

 Industry experts agree that hotspots are starting to integrate personal devices on to an organization’s network, yet firewalls will still be an integral part of any network’s external defense.

Research has estimated that by 2011 25% of all workers will be working away from the physical network locations, and even now the use of smartphones to log in to company networks is starting to be more common. As a result, sensitive corporate data is being transmitted through the Internet unmonitored or protected by the network. The solution being suggested is to route all outgoing traffic back to the firewall for proper data analysis. This will allow all traffic coming to and from mobile devices passing through VPNs to be monitored by the administrators. With data analysis software, this can ensure that the malware and viruses are not circulated through the network from mobile devices

Firewalls then not only helps keep the network safe from external attacks but can also help enforce security standards from transmissions with in the network. Firewall vendors are dealing with this situation by providing different firewalls that are getting smaller and more functional. Cisco’s latest offering is connected to the main router its self while one from Palo Alto is akin to a bridge and is better suited to be connected somewhere within the center of the network.

These newer firewalls can make analyze individual packets much more thoroughly and can verify, for instance, whether data moving through port 80 is a legitimate HTML transaction and not packets from hackers probing for security holes.

Cisco is particularly interested in securing sites running Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, regardless of how the site is accessed. Problems can occur when users access some of these services from their phones and they bypass IT security. Routing the data through the firewall may help the service administrators better protect their user base.