A New Approach to Firewalls: How to Maximize Security and Flexibility for Banks and Credit Unions

Technology solutions and applications have seen significant changes and advancements in the last 20 years. The traditional firewall, which is still one of the most basic cyber deterrents available to banks and credit unions, remains a foundation for all security strategies. Firewalls act as an intrusion prevention system and gatekeeper for a network by examining all inbound and outbound traffic to determine whether it meets the designated criteria to continue through or if it is malicious.

Over the years, there have been various iterations of firewalls as technology evolves. However, in order for firewalls to continue to be effective, they must evolve to go beyond traditional perimeter protection to safeguarding the entire network. This requires systems to be more intelligent, scalable and customizable, and to better utilize automation to be more effective. To accomplish this, today’s firewalls should be built using an open architecture. By employing the open architecture philosophy, firewall and perimeter security solutions can be seamlessly integrated with other third-party solutions to increase visibility into all activity and leverage network automation.

Some of the advantages of firewalls built on open architecture include:

• Increased flexibility and agility;
• Scalability;
• Ability to support and implement future changes, upgrades and additions;
• Can be easily modified and adapted for customized business requirements;
• Easy integration with other systems and platforms;
• Ability to create a unified technology ecosystem; and
• Seamless data exchange between platforms and solutions.

With more flexibility, your institution can maximize security and implement firewall protection that fits its unique security and compliance goals. It’s important to note that firewalls are simply one piece of the security ecosystem. There needs to be an integrated security approach between all security layers to adequately protect the entire network and establish an effective security foundation, which requires the use of flexible architecture and technology solutions. Integration and automation of all security aspects enable the various layers to communicate, providing a secure IT environment and a better chance of resisting attack. Proactively protecting customer data will always be more cost effective than falling victim to malicious activity.

For more information, download our white paper, Moving beyond Traditional Firewall Protection to Develop an Integrated Security Ecosystem.