You can protect your small business with a firewall, especially if you are a small business. Cyber threats are common and can be deadly if taken for granted. A firewall can prevent cyber terrorists from accessing your data. So, how can you protect your small business by using firewalls? Here's what you need to know:
Protection against cybersecurity risks
A firewall is vital to protecting your small business from cyber threats. This can save your data from viruses, malware, and other cyber threats.
Types of firewalls
Here are the different kinds of firewalls you can use for your business:
- Packet filtering firewalls. This kind of firewall will examine any packet of data that comes in and goes out of your network. It blocks any packet that does not meet your system's criteria.
- Stateful inspection firewalls. Firewalls examine each packet of data and only allow packets to be part of an established connection.
- Application-level gateways. These firewalls examine data in each packet and only allow packets meeting the specified criteria.
How to choose your firewall
When it comes to choosing the proper firewall for your business, it is essential to consider the following:
- Your network's size. As a small business, some firewalls will be good enough for your network—no need to pay for something too big for your needs.
- Security level you require. What does security level mean? The security level is the protection needed for data, information, and assets. The strength of a cryptographic primitive measures it, usually expressed as several "bits of security."
- Type of data that needs protection. Different kinds of data require different kinds of protection- personally identifiable information (PII), financial account numbers, credit or debit card numbers, among others.
- Your budget. How much will you pay for the kind of firewall you need? If money is tight for now, you can always upgrade in the future.
How to ensure your firewall continues to be effective
When it comes to ensuring your firewall's efficacy, you must keep it up to date. Please be on the lookout for security patches and updates and install them immediately. Another best practice is configuring your firewall to block traffic that is unnecessary for your operation. Review your firewall logs regularly to detect suspicious activities. One of the best ways to protect your system is to ensure that
your employees are trained on using the firewall, know the basics of identifying potential cyber attacks, and are prepared to protect your small business with a firewall.
