The passing of the years consolidates firewalls as one of the essential tools to have a high level of security in a network. Whether it’s a small, medium, or large network, opting for a firewall is an impossible practice to disapprove of. Above all, they help protect the network from suspicious traffic of any kind, both incoming and outgoing.
It is good not to forget that cybercriminals do not think twice about encountering a vulnerable network, infrastructure and / or users. However, this seems to have been unclear to many people. Below, we share with you all the misconceptions that were created regarding the implementation of firewalls.
With an emphasis on academics, a 2019 report from the manufacturer Juniper shows us somewhat chilling data regarding the use of firewalls. But first, we must emphasize the encouraging data we find.
More than 60% of educational institutions (schools) have implemented next-gen type firewalls and more than 20% opt for a mix of next-gen and traditional firewalls. Only 6% use traditional firewalls. However, even knowing that there are several institutions that use modern cloud solutions such as Microsoft‘s Office 365 and Google’s G Suite , tools are not implemented to guarantee their security.
Misconceptions regarding firewalls in education
Despite the fact that, as we mentioned previously, this report is oriented to the educational field, the erroneous concepts that we are going to cite are quite familiar in other business areas. The mere fact of not applying the correct security measures and adequate tools is like a green light for any cybercriminal. These are the misconceptions:
- They do not notice the fact that they must adequately distinguish between the different solutions applied to security according to the type of technology used. Whether traditional or migrated to the cloud.
- They think that both traditional and next-gen firewalls are sufficient to secure the data stored, accessed and shared in the different cloud applications. In other words, it does not matter if they opt for either of the firewalls.
- The security of cloud applications is misconstrued as being 100% the responsibility of a cloud service provider.
- Many people, especially professionals, believe that the security features that are typical of the cloud solutions that are adopted are sufficient. Or what is worse, they comment that they do not have the possibility of investing for additional solutions.
- Many leading professionals in their sector think that opting for a cyber attack insurance policy is an ideal replacement for cyber defense solutions.
- As we commented previously, the COVID-19 crisis caused areas such as education to migrate to carry out activities remotely. Many people believe that a firewall or web content filter is sufficient to secure data and monitor events that occur.
How to improve the security of platforms in any field
Being concrete, all of these concepts are patently wrong, and a lack of action on time can cost the availability of student and institution-wide data as a result of an attack. So too, any organization in the field that will be “victim” of these misconceptions, sooner or later. Perhaps, it is not a bank or some other financial institution, but the data that does not exactly involve money, are also very valuable. Speaking of the educational field, these data mark the fate of each of the students in the coming years.
Consequently, as managers of the infrastructure of an educational institution, we must improve security measures as much as possible. Especially, with this situation in which 100% of the students receive their lessons and carry out their tasks on the virtual platform of their institution.
One of the most efficient measures is the implementation of Multi-Factor Authentication . In this way, it will be guaranteed that the user and password data are effectively entered by the student himself and not a bot, for example. Just by applying this technique, the possibilities of attacks like DDoS that will render the platform unusable are already reduced.
On the other hand, and returning to the aspect of firewalls, the encrypted traffic inspection functionality is a great improvement for firewalls. Thus, it will be achieved that educational institutions (or different organizations) are free of threats against the availability and / or security of the network.
Fortunately and for the benefit of all, websites and the Internet in general are adopting the rule of having encrypted traffic via HTTPS. In any case, it is extremely important to guarantee that users who have access to encrypted traffic are previously authenticated with Multi-Factor methods that we mentioned above.
Why check users who access the network if the traffic is encrypted? Remember that just because it’s encrypted doesn’t mean you’re protected from security threats. Any user, without prior review or any authentication method, can travel the web posing as benign. Although finally, you will be able to inject malicious packets as you go, to cite an example.
Do not get carried away by misconceptions or that have doubtful justification! It can be very expensive for both the organization and the users involved.
