8 Firewall Features Your Business Can't Do Without
                      8 Firewall Features Your Business Can't Do Without
Any computer connected to the internet can 
find and connect to any other connected 
computer. The firewall serves as the barrier 
between the internet and your computer or 
network. The firewall stands guard 
monitoring anyone coming into or leaving 
your network if they are permitted to or 
not.Depending on the configuration of your 
IT infrastructure, medium-sized and large 
businesses may need a hardware firewall 
in addition to basic personal firewall such 
as Windows Firewall
  
Identity Management and Single Sign On
Single Sign On (SSO)  is a feature of 
identity and access management that 
means users can authenticate their 
identity safely and security via 
multiple applications and websites by 
logging in a single time. If you control 
your users by department, function or 
even site, then integrating their 
access into group management for 
users and SSO cuts down the 
administrative overhead.
  
Intrusion Prevention System
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is 
the latest advancement form intrusion 
detection system (IDS). IPS ensures 
employees and network guests are 
deterred from breaching the rules of 
policies. If they don't follow the rules, 
the firewall will detect suspicious 
activity on the network, block the 
traffic, and provide a report.
  
Malware and Virus Filtering
Some advanced firewalls can communicate to all your endpoints, quickly flagging 
any compromised systems through active monitoring. Instantly, the firewall will 
block or limit network access to these devices until the issue is rectified.
  
Virtual Private Networks
With a VPN, you can allow 
users to access applications 
and data securely from remote 
locations. A VPN ensures 
privacy and security through an 
encrypted tunnel that transmits 
the data between the remote 
user and company network.
  
Integrated Wireless Controller
  Using a firewall with an integrated 
wireless controller is a fantastic way to 
save money and bring all your policies 
and control them in one platform. You 
can set up all your sites using the same 
policies. This lets your users roam 
between sites without needing to 
connect or enter passwords at each 
site.
  
Logging
    Having access to logs on a firewall 
gives you up-to-minute information about 
what is happening on your network. 
Firewall logging allows you to see if a new 
firewall is performing well; if malicious 
activity is occurring on your network, any 
repeated unsuccessful login attempts from 
a particular IP address and if someone is 
using your system as a launchpad
  
Web Filtering
    Most firewalls allow you to block access to websites. Things you may want to stop 
employees or guests being able to do on the network could be: illegal activities, 
downloading illegal content, gambling and many more. Vendors like Cisco and 
Fortigate automatically update their lists of whitelisted websites by updating their IP 
addresses and domain names.
  
Brandwidth Control and Monitoring
    With bandwidth control on your 
firewall, you can allocate different 
amount of bandwidth for different 
systems or department in your 
company. You can control bandwidth 
available for sites, applications and 
users. This means that more important 
traffic can be set to go over your higher 
quality links when quality really matters.