Network firewalls are security controls that inspect and filter traffic between networks based on defined policies. If you’re asking what is Network Firewalls, think of a policy gate that decides which connections are allowed, denied, or further inspected—preventing unauthorized access and stopping exploits before they spread.
Modern firewalls extend beyond ports and IPs. Next-gen platforms recognize applications and users, decrypt and inspect TLS where allowed, and integrate with IDS/IPS, URL filtering, DNS security, and threat intel. They run as appliances, virtual machines, cloud gateways, or service-edge components to secure branch, data center, and multi-cloud traffic.
Key capabilities include:
- Policy enforcement: Allow/deny rules by app, user, group, and risk.
- Threat prevention: IPS, anti-malware, and sandboxing to block exploits.
- Visibility & logging: Flow, app, and user telemetry for SIEM/soc.
- Segmentation: Isolate zones and control east-west movement.
- Resilience: HA pairs, clustering, and SD-WAN integration.
Our take? Firewalls are your first line of control—most effective when paired with identity, endpoint, and zero-trust segmentation.
Designing rules that protect without slowing the business? Explore our Network Firewalls Guide for placement patterns, TLS inspection considerations, HA design, and how to align policies with zero-trust and hybrid cloud architectures.
