What is the Best UTM Firewall?

What is the Best UTM Firewall?

 

What Is A UTM Firewall?

Data and IT technology change every single day. It's become a full-time job just to keep up with the new trends in data and computing.

With technology and the way we do business, growing by leaps and bounds, cybersecurity is becoming increasingly more important. Large data centers and networks need to do everything they can to keep their information secure.

In fact, certain industries have minimum security standards that need to be met by companies' IT infrastructure. What's even more fascinating is that all of this needs to happen without any negative effects on user experience.

A UTM firewall is an integral part of any company's IT security structure. It allows data centers to minimize the potential for breaches and maximize users' trust in their servers.

The last thing a company needs is a massive data breach. It doesn't look good for your team and it can cause major damage to your customer loyalty.

Today, we're going to look at how you can leverage a UTM firewall to beef up your IT security. We'll talk about what they are, what they can do for your business, and we'll even introduce you to a new, cutting-edge cybersecurity tool.

Let's get going!

What Is A UTM Firewall?

A UTM firewall stands for a Unified Threat Management firewall. It's a hardware or software device that is capable of synthesizing multiple security functions together. A UTM firewall may be responsible for intrusion detection and protection, packet filtering, proxy, malware protection, application control, and much more.

The UTM firewall's primary objective is to direct web traffic between two or more network servers. It also defends the interests or controls the needs of the company.

UTM firewalls offer a larger set of characteristics than traditional firewalls. As a result, they offer superior protection for larger data systems in a corporate environment.

Advantages of A UTM Firewall

You might be wondering why you'll want to go with a UTM firewall over a traditional firewall. Well, as we already mentioned, a UTM firewall has a larger set of capabilities than a traditional firewall.

Let's dive into some of those advantages in detail so you can see how they'll benefit your business.

Protection From Malware

One of the ways UTM firewalls are superior to traditional firewall protection is in their anti-malware capabilities. Because UTM firewalls offer a larger scope of capabilities, you can usually find them equipped with third-party antivirus software.

This is a great addition for most corporate networks because even if they don't have an end-user policy for malware protection, the UTM firewall's built-in protection prevents an outdated device from harming the system.

In some cases, the firewall may even come with its own database. If it doesn't have its own database, the firewall will be integrated with external antivirus software. Any requests made to the firewall are forwarded to the external database for verification.

Being able to control and stop malware at the firewall level is great. But it always helps to have a security strategy at the endpoint of the system to add more protection.

Intrusion Prevention

Another great feature of a UTM firewall is software to detect and prevent intrusions. These features work by identifying patterns within the system. The firewall can identify harmful packets based on patterns in the system and then work to block similar attack packets in the future.

How these systems are used will depend on each data environment. Some system administrators opt to use these systems passively. They use the intrusion identification and prevention features to identify events but don't use the system to block attacks.

In other systems, however, IT staff may choose to use the UTM firewall to intercept harmful communication between servers. The firewall will log the packet coming into the server and flag it as an attack packet.

From there, the firewall will then prevent the attack packet from reaching the server involved in that particular line of communication.

UTM firewalls are also customizable to include even more forms of protection from intrusions and data breach attempts. When companies layer multiple security measures together within their firewall, they provide their facility with superior corporate security.

Multiple intrusion defenses layered within one firewall system are what make a firewall a UTM, or Unified Threat Management, firewall.

Superior Web Control

Traditional web control relies on a system of proxies. In this framework, an administrator is responsible for managing a number of different access profiles. Each access profile has its own URL base that the administrator accesses.

With a UTM firewall, you can use a more advanced web control framework. This new method is known as category-based web control.

Category-based web control allows your system to classify websites based on their content. This allows for a deeper knowledge of each website that is classified within the system. Having a web control framework of this design also increases data security.

Databases that file data by category are much more organized. As a result, they make the management of web data much easier. This allows for more confidence in user controls and, ultimately, more security for your IT team.

In addition to the added benefits of category-based web control, you can still enjoy all of the traditional features of a proxy-based system. 

All of these added features allow security within your company's network to be a breeze. IT administrators no longer have to create long lists of restricted websites. The database of URLs is created and maintained by the manufacturer of the system themselves.

This ends up delivering higher quality proxy service, which will only improve security and productivity for your organization.

App Control

Another feature UTM firewalls offer above and beyond their traditional counterparts is app control. This is also known as layer 7 filtering. 

In the modern age of internet security, port protocol and address-based security measures are becoming less effective. Layer 7 filtering allows your system to take a unique approach to your system's security.

Layer 7 is the last layer of a data packet's information. The application control available in UTM firewalls enables your system to analyze and verify that last layer of packet data. The firewall will identify the behavior of applications in this layer of data.

It can do this regardless of which port the data has come from. Then, based on the behavior of the app and your team's security policy, the firewall can grant or deny access.

Cost-Effectiveness

UTM firewalls can be a more cost-effective option than a traditional firewall. This is because a UTM firewall allows for a more centralized setup to your network security system.

Traditional systems may require a firewall, a VPN, application control, and much more. These individual components all need to be operated on their own platforms. It makes management of your system cumbersome and resource-intensive.

Using a UTM firewall system enables you to put all of those components on one easy-to-use platform. Your IT team will have an easier time managing the system. They'll also be able to address individual components of the system more easily when they need maintenance or updating.

The singular platform of the UTM will also help to cut costs by the way it identifies threats. In a multi-modal system, it can be challenging to identify threats before they happen. This is especially true if a particular threat is attacking multiple parts of the system at once.

Using a UTM firewall allows you to see a threat that attacks multiple parts of the system at once. You and your team can dispense of the threat more efficiently because you can see all parts of the system being attacked in one location. This allows for a faster response and a faster solution to the threat.

What Is the Best UTM Firewall Appliance?

Now that you know what a UTM firewall system can do for you, which is the best one available? There are dozens of options out there but you want to make sure to select one that can do everything possible for your business's cybersecurity needs.

At SECPoint, that solution is The Protector.

The Protector has everything your team needs to give your data network superior protection. It offers an advanced UTM firewall system complete with ransomware blocking. It can even help your system administrators block malware, trojans, and spambots.

Best of all, The Protector offers a user-friendly interface. And if you and your team should run into any trouble, feel free to lean on our 24/7 support team. We're here to help whenever you and your team need it.

The Firewall of the Future

There you have it! The future of cybersecurity can be found in a superior UTM firewall. Leverage increased security and data monitoring, and even help your IT team cut costs by tightening up your cybersecurity systems.

If you have any more questions about UTM firewalls or any other cybersecurity issues, contact us at any time. We are more than happy to help. Let our team of experts come up with the cybersecurity solution that's right for you.

We'll do whatever it takes to help you take your business to the next level.