Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)

Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) is the provision of firewall functions from the cloud. Instead of enforcing firewall rules exclusively via local appliances or data center infrastructure, data traffic, applications and user access are controlled via a cloud-based security service. FWaaS supports organizations in securing distributed locations, mobile users and cloud workloads more uniformly.

Typical functions include traffic inspection, policy enforcement, application control, threat protection and logging. The advantage lies in central administration and scalable provision, especially when classic network perimeters lose importance through cloud usage and remote work. FWaaS should not be viewed in isolation, however, but as a component of a comprehensive IT Security architecture.

Firewall as a service is closely linked to Cloud Security and Zero Trust Security. While classic firewalls are frequently based on network segments, FWaaS assesses access more strongly in the context of user, application, location and risk. In this way, the approach can contribute to improving the Security Posture.