March 28, 2024

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Top 4 Things You Need to Consider to Secure Connections With Firewall and VPN

Before installing a firewall and VPN together, there are several things you need to consider: the inventory of the communications required in securing connections with an upgraded firewall and VPN and how to configure a firewall and VPN to prevent unauthorized access. And finally, the benefits of implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA). If you’re a business owner or IT professional, discover the top VPN and firewall features through this article.

Quarantine users from the time they connect to the VPN

If you want to quarantine users from the time they connect to your VPN, you can do it via the web admin console. If you’ve enabled quarantine mode, you’ll be able to block any device from accessing your HQ server. The web admin console also lets you release quarantined emails. The Barracuda Email Security Service lets you quarantine outbound messages. Depending on your security needs, you can choose to receive notifications or reports. Quarantined messages can be viewed, deleted, rejected, exported, or delivered. If you’d like to quarantine users from the time they connect to the VPN, you can configure the intervals between notifications for each user.

Inventorying the communications required to secure connections with firewall and VPN

To secure a connection with a firewall or VPN, administrators must inventory the applications across the enterprise. They must record all the apps that need network connectivity and create new rules for each app. Administrators can push these rules centrally through Group Policy, Mobile Device Management, etc. But before they can deploy these rules to their users, they must inventory the apps and their communications. Once this information is available, administrators can begin to implement the rules.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA)

There are many benefits to using MFA when securing VPN and firewall connections:

  1. It helps to protect your network and data from fraud.
  2. MFA provides an additional level of security and can be difficult to implement on-premises.
  3. Integrating into existing networks or firewalls can be challenging, but it is easy to deploy and use once set up.
  4. It also provides administrators with increased visibility and control.

This process works by asking questions and verifying identities. It may also require you to provide a biometric identity, such as a fingerprint or retina scan. Then, you’ll have to confirm the identity of an external device that you’ve authorized access to using the same account. Once the user has provided the correct authentication information, the program will mark that location.

Configuring the firewall

Using firewalls and VPNs to secure connections is a common practice in many e-businesses. Firewalls must allow IPSEC-compliant traffic through port 500. VPNs unpack application data before sending it to its final destination. By setting up IPSEC-compliant traffic on port 500, targets can avoid opening additional ports on their network. If you have questions about configuring your firewall or VPN, you can consult the documentation that came with the product. It would help if you also considered the geography of your network. It is critical when configuring and troubleshooting firewall and VPN connections. In addition, it lets you determine which interfaces in the firewall need to be filtered. The external interface is the one that connects to the Internet. Hence, your firewall should allow access only to users with a valid authentication certificate.