In the cybersecurity space, few products have been hyped more than Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions. Over the past decade, these "magic boxes" have been sold as the ultimate solution to everything from insider threats to the complexity of encrypted traffic. But like the Emperor's New Clothes, the reality often doesn’t match the glossy brochures and Gartner-approved magic quadrants.
Instead of delivering unparalleled security, NGFWs often serve as glorified tools for making employees' lives miserable and IT departments look unnecessarily busy. Here’s a closer look at why the NGFW market has become a tale of oversold promises, overworked IT teams, and underwhelming results.
NGFWs | The Illusion of Security
Businesses running NGFWs are still getting compromised. They invest in full TLS inspection, aggressive traffic restrictions, and intrusive IPS configurations. The result? A workforce bogged down by oppressive restrictions and an IT team drowning in alerts and blocked ports. It should be secure, right? Yet the headlines tell a different story: businesses with NGFWs in place are still getting breached.
Here’s the kicker: most breaches occur despite having these expensive tools in place. The problem isn’t just the tools themselves—it’s the misplaced faith that these devices can solve all security problems. NGFWs aren’t silver bullets; they’re, at best, marginal improvements over traditional controls.
The Real Goals of Network Security
The purpose of network and security infrastructure is to mitigate risk, not to have an NGFW for the sake of having one. The focus should be on addressing business-specific risks, not on breaking open encryption just because the firewall vendor convinced you it’s necessary.
The effectiveness of a security solution should be judged by its ability to balance cost with real-world benefits. Spending infinite dollars on security is not a guarantee of safety. In fact, some of the most impactful security measures cost significantly less and deliver far more bang for your buck.
Why Full TLS Inspection Isn’t the Answer
TLS inspection is often touted as a critical feature of NGFWs. The reality? It’s a "10% solution" at best—a high-cost feature that offers diminishing returns:
Performance Overhead: TLS inspection consumes massive resources, forcing businesses to either cripple their network performance or pay exorbitantly for hardware upgrades.
Implementation Risks: Many NGFWs rely on shortcuts, like using a single key to re-encrypt all traffic or baking keys into the OS. These shortcuts create vulnerabilities that didn’t exist before.
False Sense of Security: TLS inspection doesn’t address the fundamental issues behind modern attacks, like phishing, credential theft, and lateral movement within a network.
What You Should Be Doing Instead
Before blowing your budget on the latest Palo Alto or Fortinet box, consider these practical, cost-effective alternatives:
1. Network Segmentation & Zero-Trust
2. Stateful Packet Inspection & DNS Filtering
A well-configured stateful firewall and DNS filtering solution can achieve 90% of the value of an NGFW without the performance hit.
Use solutions with solid threat intelligence, like Cisco Umbrella, to enhance protection without TLS inspection.
3. Passive Traffic Analytics
4. Simplify Configurations & Maintain Vigilance
Keep router, firewall, and switch configurations simple and locked down.
Patch devices regularly and disable unused features, like SNMP, to reduce attack surfaces.
Fixing the Basics
Surprisingly, some of the most effective measures are cultural and procedural, not technological:
Train Employees: Teach staff to spot phishing attempts and report incidents without fear.
Create a Safe Internet Culture: Allow personal device usage on guest Wi-Fi to reduce the temptation of using work systems for non-work activities.
Invest in Alert Management: Floods of alerts lead to critical events being ignored. Ensure alerts are actionable and manageable.
NGFWs | Mediocre at Everything
NGFWs attempt to do everything—firewalling, intrusion prevention, TLS inspection—but rarely excel at any one thing. Worse, they become single points of failure. If the firewall is compromised, the attacker gains access to all the unencrypted data passing through it. Eish! What a brainfart!
These systems also require constant babysitting, with poorly designed management platforms that fail to provide actionable insights. Ironically, the same vendors who sell NGFWs as "next-generation" solutions have a laughable track record when it comes to operational management compared to modern SD-WAN platforms.
The Cynical Truth
NGFWs are more about ticking checkboxes and generating revenue for vendors than actually improving security. They give IT teams a false sense of control, businesses a false sense of security, and attackers an easy target when misconfigured or left unpatched.
Instead of chasing the latest buzzwords, businesses should focus on practical, proven solutions. Security isn’t about having the flashiest tools; it’s about having the right strategies in place to mitigate risk effectively. And when it comes to NGFWs, the "next generation" often feels more like a recycled product with a shiny new label.
So before you let the sales team talk you into another overhyped box, take a step back. Is it really solving the problems your business faces, or is it just another way to waste money while feeling secure?
The answer might surprise you.
