AI-Powered Firewall

An AI-powered firewall integrates the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) with a next-generation firewall (NGFW). It leverages modern machine learning and AI capabilities to more effectively identify both known and unknown threats within network traffic. By performing ongoing training on live network data, an AI-powered firewall continuously improves its ability to differentiate between normal traffic and true threats.

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Why Do You Need an AI-Powered Firewall?

Firewalls have been a core component of a corporate network security architecture since the late 1980s. They are responsible for defining the network perimeter, and determining what types of traffic are permitted to enter and leave the network.

While firewalls have evolved over time, so have the cyber threats that they are designed to protect against. Modern attack campaigns are highly sophisticated and evasive, making it more difficult to extract and communicate signatures and indicators of attack (IoAs) in time to make a difference.

AI-powered firewalls are important because they have the ability to identify patterns and detect anomalies in network data. This enables them to identify and block attacks that might otherwise be missed.

Characteristics of AI-Powered Firewalls

AI is a versatile tool that can improve firewall capabilities in various ways. Some of the key characteristics of AI-powered firewalls include:

Threat Prevention: AI enhances an NGFW’s ability to identify subtle, sophisticated, and large-scale cyberattacks. As a result, AI-powered firewalls offer enhanced layer 1-7 threat prevention, reducing the risk of cyberattacks on the business.
Network Resilience & Power Efficiency: In addition to managing cyber threats, AI can also help to manage firewalls themselves. Automatic load balancing, intelligent clustering, and similar capabilities are also key features to look for to enhance security resiliency and efficiency.
Unified Security Management: AI-enhanced firewalls are most effective when they are deployed as part of a unified security infrastructure. In addition to simplifying security management, security integration also enables better collaboration between security solutions, allowing faster, more effective responses to cyberattacks.

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AI-powered firewalls have several benefits compared to other firewalls, including the following:

Improved Threat Detection: AI-powered firewalls have the ability to identify subtle trends and anomalies in network data. This allows them to detect and block attacks that might otherwise have been missed, reducing the risk to the enterprise.
Zero-Day Threat Prevention: Zero-day attacks are notoriously hard to identify and prevent due to the lack of known signatures and indicators of compromise (IoCs). AI-powered firewalls can intelligently assess inbound traffic, and perform Layer 1-7 deep packet and file inspection to determine whether it poses a real threat to corporate systems, enabling it to identify both known and zero-day threats.
Adaptive Learning: AI systems are designed to continually learn, even after being deployed. This ongoing training enables AI-powered firewalls to learn how to detect the latest threats and better differentiate them from legitimate traffic.
Faster Incident Response: After a threat has been detected, an AI-powered firewall offers faster remediation as well. If the threat isn’t blocked entirely, AI and automation can be used to address the problem at scale, limiting the impact and damage to the organization.
Improved Efficiency: AI-powered firewalls can integrate with the rest of an organization’s security architecture into a unified threat management platform. This enhances security efficiency by allowing the platform as a whole to respond automatically to threats and by reducing the workload of human analysts.
Regulatory Compliance: AI-powered firewalls can simplify regulatory compliance by reducing the number of reportable security incidents that an organization suffers. Additionally, AI provides greater security visibility and auditing to reduce the complexity of regulatory reporting.

Differences Between AI-Powered Firewalls and NGFWs

AI-powered firewalls and NGFWs are both advanced firewalls designed to address modern security threats. In fact, an AI-powered firewall is typically an NGFW with additional functionality.

The main difference between the two is how they identify and respond to potential threats to the business. NGFWs detect threats based on predefined rules, limiting their ability to identify zero-day and evolving threats. AI-powered firewalls, on the other hand, use AI/ML and adaptive learning, which provides them with the capability to detect and block attacks that they have never seen before.

Quantum Force: AI-Powered Firewalls and Security Gateways

AI-powered firewalls have the potential to dramatically improve an organization’s protection against modern, sophisticated cyberattacks. The use of AI not only enhances threat protection but can also improve the management and efficiency of these security solutions.

Check Point Quantum Force combines the power of AI with Check Point’s industry-leading NGFW capabilities. To learn more about what to look for in an NGFW, check out this buyer’s guide. Check Point Quantum Force offers industry-leading protection against malware, phishing, and other advanced threats. To learn more about how it stacks up to the competition, check out the 2024 Miercom Security Benchmark, which compares the performance of the top enterprise firewalls. To see Quantum Force’s capabilities for yourself, sign up for a free demo.