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Stop Worrying About Employee Browsing Habits, Use A Content Filtering Service

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On December 7, 2017

Stop Worrying About Employee Browsing Habits, Use A Content Filtering Service

cfs responder content filtering service network security SonicWALL

What is Content Filtering?

Content Filtering is a service that enables organizations to restrict the type of websites and web content that can be reached through devices on their network. Popular in schools, government institutions, and office settings, a quality content filtering service can mean the difference between your employees’ laser focus and an afternoon spent pinning Instagram posts.

Why Your Organization Should Be Using a CFS

Network Security

Content filtering isn’t all about keeping your employees’ eyes away from lewd or rude material; filtering also ensures that your employees don’t stumble onto known threats or phishing sites peddling malware. Given the growing popularity of Web 2.0 tech, many domains have grown into Frankenstein-esque mash-ups of aggregate content, RSS feeds, and redirects. This added complexity of navigation means that your employees “just doing their best to stay safe” likely won’t work out over time.

Security analysts repeatedly warn that the human element is the weakest link in your security infrastructure. And while we absolutely love our employees, why give them the chance?

Liability Protection & Compliance

Did you know that your company can be held liable for any data transferred into or out of its internal network? A rogue user acting in bad faith can cost you more than a day’s worth of productivity. Pornography, illicit content, copyrighted material, and fraud attempts can all open your company up to legal troubles and fines that will throw a serious wrench into your business plan. Having a content filtering service in place on your network demonstrates a good faith attempt to prevent illegal usage of your network for which you could otherwise be held liable.

In addition, many industries must meet compliance requirements that include content filtering. The most obvious example, CIPA or the Children’s Internet Protection Act, ensures that K-12 schools and libraries use content filtering to protect minors from harmful content. CIPA compliance is a requirement to receive federal funding in the United States.

Productivity

This is the part where we convince you that all of your employees are wasting their days surfing Reddit and tell you how to block Facebook, right? Wrong. This is the part where we warn that a poorly configured or low-quality content filtering service may unintentionally block legitimate resources, making your employees’ jobs harder. Any bouncer can keep a club empty. A good bouncer keeps the riff raff outside without hindering access for those visitors with genuine intentions.

How does it work?

Content filtering checks requested websites against a database of blacklisted URLs, IP addresses, and domains located in the cloud. When a server request arrives at your firewall, a request relays to the cloud-based blacklist and returns an approval to continue the process or a signal to disallow the content. The database is based on dynamically-updated ratings that grade content on security risk and content type.

Most content filtering services include the ability to block content by user, user segment, time of day, and more. Many services also include a variety of preset policies and configurations that can be applied as solutions to common issues.

Extra Value

Ratings are dynamically generated and updated by a central database, so your filters are kept up to date without you lifting a finger
Traffic analysis allows you to monitor the types of websites that your employees are visiting
A good CFS includes an easy-to-use and intuitive management UI, giving you precise control over your filters
Content filtering services can extend to mobile devices as well, allowing you to restrict content on any company-issued smartphones or tablets

GET ME A CONTENT FILTERING SERVICE!

Block Facebook from the Comfort of Home

SonicWall recently released a CFS Responder. In the example we used above, your network had to reach all the way out to a cloud-based database located who-knows-where. The SonicWall CFS Responder keeps the answers you’re looking for a little closer to home by housing the database and rating architecture in local responders in lieu of a remote public responder. A deployed CFS Responder eases traffic demands on your firewall and reduces wait times for server requests. Now you get all the security of a content filtering service without sacrificing performance speeds!

Check out the SonicWall Local CFS Responder

5 Reasons to Love the New Sophos XG Firewalls v17

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On November 2, 2017

5 Reasons to Love the New Sophos XG Firewalls v17

application controls content filtering endpoint protection firewalls NAT policy ngfw Sophos sophos xg

Don’t you just hate it when, as soon as Halloween ends, an explosion of premature Christmas spirit takes over the rest of the year? Well, this year Sophos wants to change your mind on the matter, so they intercepted your letter to Santa and got you everything on your firewall wish list. Sophos took the top customer-requested features and crammed them all into one comprehensive update: Sophos XG Firewalls v17.

Keep reading and you will learn how keyword content filtering, synchronized app control, and streamlined policy management makes monitoring and reporting the activity of your firewall easier than ever before.

#1 – Synchronized App Control

An average 60% of application traffic arrives in firewall management portals as unidentified. Synchronized App Control automatically identifies unknown applications, allowing you to block unwanted applications and prioritize mission-critical apps.

Synchronized App Control is an XG exclusive. You will not find this feature with any other firewall option, so if you’re looking for a reason to switch over to Sophos, this is your big talking point.

#2 – Policy Test Simulator

If only there was a simple, straightforward way to test out your new NAT policies! Well, now there is. No more guesswork. No more “fingers crossed.” Just answers.

The Sophos XG Firewalls Policy Test Simulator is located right on your rules screen so you have the power to experiment with what works, what doesn’t, and why.

#3 – Web Keyword Content Filtering & PUAs

With web surfers striking out in every direction imaginable, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the wave as a network administrator. At times the task seems Sisyphean: we block websites, users find a new haven to flee to, we block the new sites, they move on to the next. But no more. Sophos XG v17 includes a handy feature that allows administrators to block Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs). Don’t waste your days catching up to the problem. Get out ahead of it.

#4 – Intrusion Prevention & Email Got Smarter

In recent tests by NSS Labs, Sophos XG Firewalls earned top-of-class marks for price-performance ratio and effectiveness against evasion techniques. Now this intrusion prevention has grown more powerful with the addition of Smart Filters. This hands-off approach allows administrators to rely on filters to do the legwork of preventing breaches.

Likewise, Smart Host capabilities allow you to route email traffic intended for applications like Office 365 through your firewall. This means that emails are being scanned and scrubbed long before they’re a potential problem.

#5 – Firewall Rule Management

Do you have too many firewall rules? Too few? Are some redundant? Which rules aren’t really doing anything? Sophos XG Rule Activity Monitoring takes the guesswork out of creating a set of comprehensive, efficient firewall rules. XG Firewalls make it easy to manage all your network security in one screen, including everything from user-based rules to web application protections and more. Powerful new reports help you decide whether your rules are champs or chumps.

What’s In It For Me?

The Fastest Administrator on Earth: In the Justice League Comic Mini-Series “Kingdom Come,” the superhero Flash (the fastest man alive) has stopped stopping altogether. This version of the Flash is in constant motion around his hometown of Keystone City, preventing crimes in the split-second before they start. Now your network administrator can be the Flash: an unstoppable, dynamic blur of justice that shuts down cybercrime before it ever begins.

Direct Traffic, Don’t Chase It: When a major sporting event lets out, police don’t wait around for traffic to gridlock before trying to untangle a congested intersection. Instead, roadblocks are set up to guide traffic through desired routes and prevent unrelated traffic from exacerbating the problem. Keyword content filtering, synchronized app control, and blocking PUAs means traffic flows exactly as planned.

Save Your Poor Mouse Button: You’ll be clicking around your reports far less often since network activity is succinctly visualized right on one convenient screen. That means you’ll save a few click, click, clicks and maybe a few headaches along the way.

Sophos XG Firewalls are drawing massive attention and praise. Sophos has a clear vision of the path towards a safer cyber security future and you can trust that they understand the pain points that network administrators struggle with. If you’re rooting for innovation and common sense solutions, it may be time to jump over to Team Sophos. Worried about navigating through new features? Our certified engineers and network architects are here to help you migrate to a safer, faster future.

CHECK OUT OUR XG FIREWALL APPLIANCES

TAKE SOPHOS XG FIREWALLS FOR A TEST DRIVE – ENROLL IN A RISK-FREE 30 DAY TRIAL!

Best Small Business Firewall: A look at the top contenders for best SMB firewalls

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On October 11, 2017

Best Small Business Firewall: A look at the top contenders for best SMB firewalls

firewalls next-gen firewalls small business firewalls smb firewalls SonicWALL sonicwall tz400 Sophos sophos xg105 watchguard watchguard t50

Best Small Business Firewall, a coveted title that manufacturers are gunning to claim and users are clamoring to find the answer to. Understandably, we all want to make sure we’re getting the best of the best when it comes time to whip out the corporate card. However, this question is not as black-and-white as it is appears. Many factors play into determining the quality of a firewall and, when it comes to small businesses especially, the answer is often more dependent on the needs of the business than the hard specs of the appliance. Recently we posted a handy guide to help you choose the best small business firewall, but searchers want more specific answers.

If you came here looking for the be-all, end-all answer, the cyber security mic drop, or even a top 10 list, you won’t find it here. And chances are, if you find it somewhere else, they’re just trying to sell you something.

“Wait, isn’t Firewalls.com trying to sell me something?”

Yes.

Peace of mind.

But no, seriously, we have some insight to share here.

So in the interest of conflict of interest, today’s post will showcase three of the best-selling and most sought-after small business firewalls. Is any one of them the best small business firewall? Hard to say. But we can guarantee that these three appliances are popular, get great reviews, and are repeatedly merited as the most cost-effective, comprehensive solutions to common network security issues.

* * *

SonicWall TZ400

Greatest Strength: The TZ400 is a great option for small to medium-sized businesses that require secure remote access between multiple offices. Site-to-site VPN tunnels can accommodate 20 users per connection and perform well with Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), SSL, and SonicWall’s patented Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection (RFDPI).

Perfect For: The small business that needs to operate at higher-than-average speeds, especially over long distances.

Recommended Users: 25-35 Users

Maximum Throughput: 1.3 Gbps

Form Factor: Desktop

Price: Appliance-Only MSRP: $945.00; Firewalls.com price: $709.00

Learn more about the SonicWall TZ400

* * *

Sophos XG105

Greatest Strength: Looking for on-box reporting and high speeds? The price-to-performance ratio for this XG105 is astounding. Able to accommodate up to 20 users and reach speeds of 3 Gigabytes per second, the XG105 also delights with its modest price point.

Perfect For: Businesses looking to expand a network to match their growing performance needs. The XG105 is an extremely cost-effective way to turn your average office into a robust, high-speed network.

Recommended Users: 10-20 Users

Maximum Throughput: 3 Gbps

Price: Appliance-Only MSRP: $440.00; Firewalls.com price: $396.00

Learn more about the Sophos XG105

* * *

WatchGuard T50

Greatest Strength: The WatchGuard T-series is easy to use for beginners but has the depth of reporting that veteran sys admins crave. WatchGuard excels at visualizing data and makes actively monitoring your network a breeze. WatchGuard Dimension is out here winning awards as a reporting tool!

Perfect For: System administrators and network architects that like to take a hands-on approach to cyber security. We don’t get to say this in the info sec industry often, but you’ll have a lot of fun with this hardware.

Recommended Users: 10 – 25 Users

Maximum Throughput: 1.2 Gpbs

Form Factor: Rack Mount

Price: Appliance-Only MSRP: $2,000.00, Firewalls.com price: $1,520.00

Learn more about the WatchGuard T50

* * *

So, what is the best small business firewall? The debate rages on.

What is the best firewall for your small business? That answer is a bit easier to parse out. Firewalls.com can work with you to ensure that you choose the best appliance to fit the unique needs and demands of your small business. You worked your fingers to the bone building an organization, a brand, and a network that is solely, undeniably yours. You deserve a solution that is solely, undeniably yours.

SonicWall NSA 2650 and SonicWall SonicWave Access Points: New products expand NGFW standards

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On October 3, 2017

SonicWall NSA 2650 and SonicWall SonicWave Access Points: New products expand NGFW standards

firewalls ngfw nsa SonicWALL sonicwall nsa 2650 sonicwave wap wifi

SonicWall NSA 2650 & the SonicWave Series shook up the cyber security scene, painting the tail-end of September with excitement over new features and capabilities. What exactly sets apart the NSA 2650 from past iterations? And what is a SonicWave anyway? Answers to all your questions regarding the latest tech buzz are here.

SonicWall NSA 2650

What is it?

The SonicWall NSA 2650 is the latest Next-Generation Firewall offering from SonicWall and it comes with a slew of handy features. The NSA 2650 boasts high port density, allowing for a huge amount of simultaneous connections without sacrificing performance or requiring network switches. Pair that with multiple high-speed processors with parallel processing power and you’ll find that the NSA 2650 excels at SSL Deep Packet Inspection that doesn’t slow your traffic. SonicWall’s patent for reassembly-free DPI translates into negligible downtime in data packets waiting to be inspected. Instead, packets in queue are moved right along to the next available processing engine and ushered through the express lane.

Finally, one of the most exciting aspects of the SonicWall NSA 2650 is its ability to support 802.11ac Wave 2 Wifi. Wave 2 is the next step in wireless internet technology and soon to become the new standard in Wi-Fi. The throughput capabilities of the NSA 2650 hardware are revved up high enough to match the requirements of Wave 2 Wi-Fi, so you’ll have a firewall finally fast enough to keep up with the blazing speeds of your wireless network.

Why the hype?

Multi-gigabit ports, several high-speed processors, and hearty onboard memory all translate to one thing: speed. All of this on a tag team with Wave 2 compatibility means that the NSA 2650 can provide best-in-the-business performance stats while maintaining cutting-edge security. The SonicWall NSA 2650 is also ready to scale with your business thanks to optional expansion slots, redundant power supply options, and more gigabit ports than you could realistically need.

What’s in it for me?

You know that tiny little area at the center of the Venn diagram where “fast,” “powerful,” and “versatile” meet? This is the domain of the SonicWall NSA 2650. Advances in wireless technology are crystallizing into the emergence of new industry standards. Get out ahead of the changes and you’ll enjoy fast, secure, future-proof network security that is built to grow with your needs.

SEE STATS, SPECS, DATASHEETS, PRICING, & MORE FOR THE SONICWALL NSA 2650

SonicWall SonicWave

What is it?

The SonicWave series is a line of powerful Wave 2 wireless access points. More powerful than even the famous SonicPoint, the SonicWave access points are multi-radio devices built to operate on Wave 2 Wi-Fi. Operating on the 802.11ac Wave 2 network means you’ll be onboard with an emergent industry standard in wireless technology. SonicWave devices are capable of both band steering and beamforming, fancy terms that mean your network is always operating on the most efficient frequencies available.

SonicWave access points are multi-radio devices. A primary radio operates on the 5Ghz frequency band, which is often the least “crowded” frequency. This ensures that your connection isn’t battling for priority. A second radio operates on the classic 2.4 GHz band so that legacy 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi devices can connect. A third radio exclusively scans for rogue access points, providing top-of-the-line security and, as a convenient bonus, Purchase Card Industry (PCI) Compliance.

Why the hype?

Not to beat a dead horse here, but 802.11ac Wave 2 is truly the next evolution in wireless networking and the SonicWall SonicWave is the first step towards standardizing the wireless industry. If you’re ready right now for fast, secure, uninterrupted wireless coverage, Wave 2 is your destination. If you’re afraid of change, then we’ll catch you in a few years when you jump on the Wave 2 train anyway.

What’s in it for me?

These access points allow you to utilize HD media, cloud, and mobile-heavy resources without degrading signal strength. You’ll be hard pressed to find anything that can slow this wireless network down. If you want a real work horse handling your web traffic, the SonicWall SonicWave is your answer. SonicWaves are simultaneously impenetrable security juggernauts and nimble network acrobats, transferring across multiple frequency bands to ensure that your web traffic always has the most secure, direct, and unobstructed traffic flow.

SEE STATS, SPECS, DATASHEETS, PRICING, & MORE FOR THE SONICWALL SONICWAVE SERIES

Learn About Firewalls: Firewalls.com YouTube Channel offers network security how-tos, tutorials, & troubleshooting

By Andrew Harmon

Posted On September 19, 2017

Learn About Firewalls: Firewalls.com YouTube Channel offers network security how-tos, tutorials, & troubleshooting

cyber security firewall videos firewalls IT solutions network security network security videos SonicWALL Sophos youtube

Learning about firewalls and network security is no easy chore. While a wealth of knowledge exists across the web, few domains can translate complex network security concepts into easily-digested lessons for beginners. Likewise, troubleshooting firewall issues often leads to old, obsolete forum responses and dead ends. You’re in luck.

The Firewalls.com YouTube library is continuously growing and packed to the brim with how-to’s, tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and more. Like a treasure trove full of SonicWall and Sophos solutions, Firewalls.com customers and visitors alike are sure to find the answers to their questions.

Who makes the videos?

We do! Right here in the office. Our video series is produced, edited, and narrating by our rockstar team of engineers and architects. If you’re the type of person that wants the answer straight from the horse’s mouth, then this is the channel for you. Our video makers are certified SonicWall and Sophos engineers with over a decade of combined experience in real world network security management. Learn about firewalls from the guys that spend every day up to their eyeballs in network security! Our two narrators, Alan and Matt, are ready to show you the ropes.

a look into the firewalls.com studio where we answer questions based on your search terms about cyber security, info sec, firewalls, sophos, sonicwall, and more — A look at our editing desk.

Who decides what video topics to cover?

You do! We generate topics for our videos based on the top search terms in YouTube, Google, and the Firewalls.com website. We know the Internet has important questions and we want to answer them. If there’s a certain topic you want us to cover, let us know in YouTube comment sections or on social media.

Why the Firewalls.com channel?

We want you to learn about cyber security, so we’re not going to waste your time. We’re no pack of newbs that spend the first two minutes of every video introducing ourselves, begging for likes, and talking about our BFF’s new music project. Get in, get answers, and get back to being productive.

What’s in it for me?

Information, readily available and easy to follow. Our videos are made by screen capturing our network techs using the same reporting and monitoring programs that our customers use, in real time. There’s no magic wand waving behind slick edits or cuts.

Running dual monitors? Set one screen to our YouTube and the other screen to your work space and you can fix network security snafus side-by-side, at your pace.

How can I learn more?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and you’ll be notified the moment we publish new how-tos. If you’re following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, we’re always sure to post new videos on social media as well.

firewalls.com studio for creating youtube videos answering questions about cyber security, sophos, sonicwall, watchguard, and more firewalls topics — Join us in the studio!

Check out some of our most recent Sophos & SonicWall issues solved:

Use your Sophos XG Firewall as a DNS Request Server

Use SonicWall’s NetExtender to setup an SSL VPN

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