The best cloud firewalls make setting up a perimeter defense around your computer and IT network simple and easy.
Web application firewalls, also known as web application firewalls (WAFs), have become an integral part of IT network cybersecurity as a means of protecting business networks from malicious attacks by third parties. These attacks can range from anything from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to outright hacking activity, to malware infiltration and extraction.
While personal users may typically use a basic firewall on their computers, either as a standalone program or as part of an antivirus software platform, setting up these types of firewalls for business applications can be much more challenging due to the larger number of computers set up on a business's IT network.
This is why cloud firewalls work so well, as you have a single platform where you can run all your computers or IT network, without having to set them up individually. With an admin dashboard that offers batch permissions, advanced settings, and customizable rules, it simplifies the entire process of deploying a firewall on your assets, and can even come with analytics to monitor performance and make changes in real-time to avoid downsides.
Ultimately, while there are cloud antivirus platforms as well as endpoint security and employee monitoring, all of which aim to help improve IT security, a cloud firewall should be the first port of call when it comes to cybersecurity, in order to provide an overall protective shell around IT systems.
Below we list what we believe are the best cloud firewalls currently available.
We have also provided the best malware removal software.
Best Cloud Firewalls for 2024 in Entirety:
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Best overall cloud firewall
CloudFlare is a content delivery, DDoS mitigation, internet security, and distributed domain name server provider.
The solution regularly monitors the internet for any new updates such as attacks and vulnerabilities. WAF (Web Application Firewall) rules are automatically enabled for anything that is considered a threat to the majority of their customers. These rules will protect all internet properties. Constant updates ensure that CloudFlare’s protection is there at all times.
Cloudflare handles a massive number of requests every hour with its solution that identifies and blocks new threats. Thanks to its large customer base, the platform is able to rely on collective intelligence when it comes to eliminating threats. This means that when a customer creates a new Web Application Firewall rule, CloudFlare decides whether it applies to all other domains on its network.
CloudFlare has a free tier. This tier includes unlimited DDoS mitigation, a global content delivery network, a shared SSL certificate, and 3-page rules. Additional rules can be purchased through the CloudFlare dashboard.
Read our full Cloudflare review.
Best Cloud Firewall with Features
Perimeter 81 is a popular name in the market and offers a variety of services to secure businesses. Among these services, the company also offers Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) solution.
It is a very powerful service that has the ability to manage multiple networks compared to a single network as most firewalls do. Perimeter 81 FWaaS uses granular access to prevent any potential breaches, thus better securing and protecting the organization’s network.
Organizations can also restrict and control access to their cloud networks based on user or group identity. Additionally, they can define access policies by enforcing security policies, and restrict access to sensitive data flows.
The service may be more suitable for larger businesses but it is still a great fit for small businesses if you decide to give the solution a try. Since the company has more than one service, if you opt for a more expensive plan, apart from FWaaS, you will also get features like permanent VPN, DNS filtering, and more, improving your security in the process. A trial is available if you want to try the service before paying.
Best Cloud Firewall for Ease of Use
Amazon Web Services is part of Amazon.com. It provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals and businesses. As part of this subscription, users get access to AWS WAF.
AWS WAF is a web application firewall that protects web applications from threats that could compromise their security or consume resources. The solution itself is simple and easy to use.
Users can create custom rules designed to prevent common attack patterns such as cross-site scripting. The solution has a full-featured API that allows users to automate the creation, deployment, and maintenance of all rules used.
AWS WAF charges you for each new rule you create. You are not charged a set price each month, but you must subscribe to Amazon Web Services to access this feature.
Find out more: What is AWS WAF?
Best Cloud Firewall Package
Sophos is a British security software and hardware company. It develops products for endpoints, encryption, network security, and unified threat management.
Sophos Firewall is a unified threat manager that also acts as application security and a wireless gateway.
Users can manage settings from the Sophos Control Center. From here, subscribers can access the Utilities Dashboard. This allows you to view your network, users, and applications. You can also add iView to Sophos. This provides centralized reporting across multiple firewalls.
The management interface gives users an overview of features such as traffic insights, system statistics, and firewall rules.
Sophos offers users a free 30-day trial. This includes IPS, ATP, Sandboxing, Dual AV, Web and App Control, Anti-phishing, and Web Application Firewall. Subscribers need to contact Sophos directly for a quote.
Best Cloud Firewall for Security
Imperva offers a cloud-based Web Application Firewall (WAF). It provides application delivery with content caching and load balancing through a global content delivery network, advanced bot protection, API security, web application security, and DDoS mitigation.
Imperva Web Application Firewall acts as a gateway for all traffic coming to your online services. It filters out malicious visitors and requests such as SQL injections and XSS attacks.
The solution uses multiple layers of security policies to identify threats. These are maintained by a security team. Imperva uses attack information from its network to provide protection to its users.
Imperva has 45 dedicated DDoS data centers around the world ensuring 24/7 monitoring.
To obtain a quote or start a free trial, interested parties should contact Imperva directly.
Best Cloud Firewall for DDoS Protection
Akamai App & API Protector integrates DDoS protection with a web application firewall. DDoS services identify and neutralize threats from IP addresses using a 1 to 10 scale. These scores are based on the ability of IP addresses to identify suspicious traffic. The scores are then used to allow, alert, or block based on the severity of the score. Users can also customize the settings so they can choose which IP addresses they want to block.
The web application firewall inspects individual traffic. Any malicious attacks are eliminated. This tool only works against web-based attacks. Users can use the management dashboard to access information such as reports and attack rates. The utility requires very little customization.
Subscribers will need to contact Akamai directly to start their free trial and get a quote.
Best Cloud Firewall for VPN Users
Coming from the same team that brought us NordVPN, NordLayer is a solution that offers much more than just a cloud firewall.
Unfortunately, these services are offered in bulk and cannot be purchased on demand.
The provider uses military-grade AES 256 encryption, and you'll also get a number of features like a kill switch, or the ability to automatically detect and block malicious domains.
To get all this, you will need to subscribe to the NordLayer Premium plan.
This means you'll likely pay more than if you just used the cloud firewall, but on the plus side, you'll get a lot of extra features and more security.
The premium plan costs $14 per month every year, for a minimum of 5 users. Apart from the features mentioned, you will also get custom DNS, the ability to create virtual private gateways with dedicated IP addresses and more.
NordLayer Cloud Firewall provides an additional level of control and security for organizations that rely on a hybrid cloud, by leveraging NordLayer's virtual private gateways to operate.
The service itself is fast, reliable, and easy to use, so even beginners should have no problems figuring things out.
We have listed the best VPN for remote access.
common questions
How to Choose the Best Cloud Firewall
When deciding which cloud firewall to use, first consider the actual features you want. High-end software usually covers all needs, so make sure you have a good idea of ​​what tools you think you might need from your cloud firewall. Obviously, if you’re already using a cloud platform, it’s a good idea to at least consider any built-in firewall as a first option.
How do we test?
To test the best cloud firewall, we first created an account with the relevant software platform, then tested the service to see how the software could be configured for different purposes and in different situations. The goal was to test each cloud firewall platform to see how useful its basic tools were and how easy it was to work with any more advanced tools. Of course, we also tested each one to make sure it actually worked against unauthorized intrusions!
Read more about how we test, rate and review products on TechRadar.
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