With the push to zero trust networks over the last few years, the firewall is still one of the most important devices on your network to protect your company and customers. Selecting a firewall can be a daunting task with all of hardware features to pick from. Throw in all of the software and licensing options, you almost need a PhD to keep things straight. Here at BDK, Inc. we have really come to love the Pfsense firewall for a few reasons….
Pfsense firewall is an open source product with an engaged user community. We can debate open vs. closed source software another day, but in our opinion, open source projects with a dedicated community like Pfsense has, allow the product to be priced very aggressively, innovate very rapidly and find/fix security flaws much quicker.
It’s secure. Pfsense is built using of the most secure operating systems, FreeBSD. Several notable organizations including DARPA, NSA, Yahoo!, Apple Computer, Inc. and Google, Inc contribute to the TrustedBSD project which develops advanced security features for FreeBSD.
It’s flexible. Pfsense firewall can be installed on your own device, in a virtual machine or a purpose-built platform depending on your needs.
It’s easy. Pfsense licensing is simple. All features are enabled in the Pfsense firewall whether you download and install it yourself on your own hardware or if you purchase a purpose-built hardware device directly from Netgate (the company that supports the Pfsense project).
Pfsense firewall’s user community is dedicated and engaged in providing additional software packages to expand your firewall. Here are some of our favorite packages:
- OpenVPN – free VPN software. ‘nuff said
- pfBlockerNG – blocks IP addresses and domain names based on reputation or geolocation.
- Snort – open source network intrusion prevention and detection system (IDS/IPS).
- Squid – web caching application that can reduce bandwidth and increase web response times. This package also includes ClamAV Anti-virus Integration.
While we love Pfsense for the above reasons, it may not be the best firewall solution for your needs, and we understand that. If you’d like to talk to us about Pfsense or your other IT needs, give us a call.