What is NGFW? What Are The Advantages Of Next-Generation Firewalls?

Posted: October 17, 2022

Author: Rahul Bogala

NGFW, or next-generation firewall, belongs to the third generation of firewall technology. NGFW is the deep-packet inspection firewalls whose concept was introduced by Gartner a decade ago. According to Gartner, NGFW can move beyond the port/protocol inspection to filter unauthorized incoming traffic from entering the network.

It offers features, including intrusion prevention, application-layer inspection, threat prevention capabilities, IPS or integrated intrusion prevention system, threat intelligence, etc. In the case of securing the corporate networks, these firewalls can go well beyond the call of duty. Although the traditional ones can operate till Layers 3 and 4, NGFWs can move till Layer 7.

What Are The Advantages Of Next-Generation Firewalls?

The advantages of NGFW Firewalls are:

Security functions like intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are added by NGFW, which helps in packet-content filtering. It enables the system to analyze, identify and act against irregular deviations from pre-defined rules and activities, intelligent attack threat signatures, and more.
NGFW can be easily managed and accessed from a single console
Multi-layered protection helps in identifying the traffic from layers 2-7 and determining the exact nature of the overall data transfer to detect any potential vulnerabilities residing within the network
A simplified infrastructure eliminates the requirement of a separate security appliance for each new threat, thereby saving resources on daily operational activities. It enables the users to manage seamlessly while updating the security protocols and rules from just a single authorized device.
NGFW is incredible in handling multiple security devices due to their incredible network speed and performance
NGFW is available with a complete package of ransomware, antivirus, spam protection, and endpoint security which diminishes the requirement of any separate tool for protecting business data
NGFWs can detect any user identity and enable the organizations to set role-based authorization for maintaining the confidentiality of their sensitive data, even among themselves

What is The Difference Between A NGFW and Traditional Firewall?

The main differences between NGFW and Traditional Firewall is:

A standard firewall offers features like VPN, network address translation, and packet filtering. However, NGFW has made identifying applications and applying controls possible at the application layer itself. It also reduces the complexity of managing unrelated security products.
The traditional firewalls can support stateful inspection of incoming as well as outgoing network traffic. But NGFW is responsible for inspecting incoming and outgoing traffic and offering comprehensive app control and visibility.
Traditional firewalls can work from layers 2 to 4 only. However, NGFW can work till layer 7.
Managing the security tools becomes extremely affordable for NGFW as the users can configure, install or integrate the tools easily, unlike the traditional ones.
IPS and IDS are separately deployed in traditional firewall, but these are integrated, in the case of NGFW

PARAMETER	TRADITIONAL FIREWALL	NEXT GEN FIREWALL(NGFW)
Traffic Filterting(Port, IP Address & Protocol based)	Supported	Supported
Application Visibility and Application Control	Partial	Detailed
CAPEX & OPEX(Considering all feature requirement)	Higher Since seperately need to buy and maintain	Considerable reduction since all services will be bundled into single box
IPS(Intrusion Prevention System)	Not Supported	Supported
NAT	Supported	Supported
VPN	Supported	Supported
Application level awareness	Not Supported	Supported
Reputation and identity services	Not Supported	Supported
Working Layer	Layer 2 to Layer 4	Layer 2 upto Layer 7
Throughput & Performance	Lower than NFGW and Drastically reduces when additional services introduced	Much higher than traditional firewall and doesn't change much on introduction of additional services
Reporting	Standard Reports	Customized reporting upto user level giving near real time details with plenty of additional reporting options like download format etc.

What Is NGFW In Cyber Security?

In cybersecurity, a next-generation firewall offers the capability of identifying the incoming traffic from different IPs and ports only to determine if it can enter the network per the pre-defined security rules. Therefore, the term "firewall" is used to describe how these cyber security devices can delay the progress of any attacks on the specified network. Like any traditional firewall, NGFW can also be implemented in software or hardware, per requirements.

What Is The Difference Between UTM Firewall and NGFW?

The main difference between NGFW and UTM is the former enables enterprises to customize their security policies while the latter offers out-of-the-box guidelines and reporting tools for easy deployments and management.

NGFW Firewall is known for delivering a selected set of security services, including IPS, firewalling, and URL filtering. UTM or Unified Threat Management refers to the mode of information security, where installation of a single software or hardware can offer multiple security features, like anti-spam, antivirus, website filtering, content filtering, etc.

This approach is entirely in contrast with the basic principles of traditional firewalls. Therefore, UTM is responsible for simplifying information-security management by offering a single reporting and management point for the security administrator.

So, the UTM and NGFW products can protect your business network from potential cyber threats and hackers. In addition, both can identify -the underlying vulnerabilities within the network. However, despite the similarities, both NGFW and UTM differ considerably.

UTM is known for offering policies and strategies for seamless deployment processes and ongoing management. However, the NGFW appliances can cater to companies with requirements like easy security policies customization, manual reporting, management strategies, etc.
As already highlighted, NGFW can be hardware or software-based, but UTM appliances are hardware-based only
NGFW is suitable for high-intensity traffic environments like complex businesses, telecommunications, and many such establishments that centralize large data traffic, while the UTM firewall is ideal for small and large-sized enterprises
UTM might not detect different vulnerabilities which hackers can easily exploit, but NGFW comes with more advanced protocols, making it more secure and reliable

difference between utm and ngfw firewall

What is NGFW in Networking?

In networking, NGFW or next-generation firewall addresses the advanced layer of security threats through smart, context-aware features and offers the capabilities of implementation within software or hardware. The network security device can provide stateful inspection of detecting and blocking sophisticated attacks by using security policies, cloud-delivered threat intelligence, application awareness and control, integrated intrusion prevention system (IPS), etc.

So, it is the one that adds additional features like integrated intrusion prevention, third-party identity management integration, QoS/bandwidth management, etc., to broaden the capabilities of a traditional firewall.

What is the Difference Between NGFW And WAF?

The difference between a next-generation firewall and WAF lies in how they interact with incoming and outgoing traffic at different points. Firewalls are the ultimate protective buffers that rest between private and broader networks, like the internet. It is responsible for monitoring the kind of traffic that enters any network and blocks the unauthorized ones, thereby lowering the potential cyber threats.

A web application firewall is a filter that protects web applications from HTTP/S and web application-based security vulnerabilities. Just like the traditional firewalls, WAF utilizes policies to identify and filter malicious, unauthorized traffic. However, it also enables the user to modify the policies instantly, thereby fastening the attack response process.

NGFW is the network security device responsible for performing deeper inspections compared to the ones conducted by the first- and second-generation firewalls. So, this is an active part of the third generation of firewall technology. NGFW is known for using deep packet inspection, DPI, along with intrusion prevention systems or IPS. Other strategies include TLS/SSL encrypted traffic inspection, QoS/bandwidth management, website filtering, third-party identity management integration, antivirus inspection, etc.

If compared, both NGFW and WAF are available to filter malicious traffic from entering the network. But their key differences are:

The first difference between WAF and NGFW is related to their place of operation. NGFW offers detection, inspection, and prevention against malicious attacks and hence tends to operate closer to the organization layer 3-4. However, WAF is dedicated to protecting web apps and operates to layer 7.
NGFW is a safeguard against authorized network access, while the WAFs are known for identifying specific app-layer attacks like XSS, DDoS attacks, SQL injections, etc.
WAF is only here to protect the web applications, while NGFW provides the security for the entire corporate network
Mode of operation for WAF includes active inspection and passive mode while it is transparent and routed mode for NGFW
In the case of NGFW, access control is possible, while it is restricted for WAF

Top Next-Gen Firewalls to Choose in 2022

The best NGFW firewalls to check out in 2022 are:

Selecting the next-generation firewall for your company might seem like a challenging task. But, brands like Palo Alto and Fortinet are leading the way to combat the next-gen threats while granting advanced centralized management capabilities.

Get in touch with DC Gears, the brand that partners with the most famous NGFW and cybersecurity vendors globally. Enjoy our 24*7 on-site services with guaranteed professional supervision.