Firewall management

Overview
There are many aspects to firewall management. For example, choosing the type or types of firewalls to deploy and their positions within the network can significantly affect the security policies that the firewalls can enforce. Policy rules may need to be updated as the organization’s requirements change, such as when new applications or hosts are implemented within the network. Firewall component performance also needs to be monitored to enable potential resource issues to be identified and addressed before components become overwhelmed. Logs and alerts should also be continuously monitored to identify threats &mdash; both successful and unsuccessful. Firewall rulesets and policies should be managed by a formal change management control process because of their potential to impact security and business operations, with ruleset reviews or tests performed periodically to ensure continued compliance with the organization’s policies. Firewall software should be patched as vendors provide updates to address vulnerabilities.