Q: select a security router for SMEs.

Security RouterGenerally, it is a network security device that integrates the conventional routing and network security functions. In terms of its main functions, it is also a router, mainly responsible for Routing Switching tasks in the network, but more security features are available, including built-in firewall modules.

Currently, security router products on the market are generally divided into VPN,FirewallOr, the functions and performance of the product are also different When configuring the encryption card. From the perspective of security functions, the security router should provide three security functions: the security of the network system, the security of the router itself, and the security of network information.

A professional Firewall is a dedicated network security device. It uses a comprehensive network technology and is a level between a protected network and an untrusted external network, it is used to separate protected networks from external network systems to prevent unpredictable malicious intrusion. It is the only portal for information between different networks or network security domains. It can control inbound and outbound information flows according to the corresponding security policies to prevent illegal information from flowing into the protected network. Firewalls work in the networks of large enterprises and become the main security devices in the networks. They are mainly arranged at the interfaces of one network or subnet and another network to ensure the security of the entire network.

Network Layer access control for hardware firewall performance includes rule editing, IP/MAC Address binding, and NAT (network address translation ), access control at the application layer includes content filtering that supports http, SMTP, and FTP protocols, firewall management includes WUI Management Based on WEB interfaces, GUI Management Based on graphical user interfaces, and command line CLI management. Currently, most firewalls provide audit and log functions. The security router performance includes address ing, data conversion, routing selection and protocol conversion network interconnection, network isolation, traffic control, security control and security management functions, includes Security Audit, tracking, alarm and key management, and VPN.

The security router is mainly used in the network center of small and medium-sized enterprises. It undertakes the main routing functions while taking into account network security. However, the overall network performance of the entire device cannot be degraded due to security functions. That is to say, security is an auxiliary function of the security router. In small and medium networks, the deployment of security routers enables some functions of the firewall, so there is no need to deploy the firewall in the network. However, in the networks of large enterprises, firewalls and Security routers play a different role in routing and security functions.

What about software firewalls, UTM, and other products?

The Software Firewall runs on a specific computer and needs the support of the computer operating system pre-installed by the customer. Generally, this computer is the gateway of the entire network. Enterprise/individual firewall ". Software firewalls, like other software products, need to be installed on computers and configured before they can be used.

Checkpoint is the most famous among Firewall vendors for their network-based software firewalls. To use this type of firewall, the network administrator must be familiar with the operating system platform. UTM (UnITed Threat Management) refers to unified Threat Management. In the industry, anti-virus, firewall, intrusion detection, and other concepts are generally integrated into a new category called unified Threat Management, these UTM devices are integrated with a variety of security technologies, including firewalls, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), intrusion detection and defense (IDP), Gateway anti-virus, and other Threat Management security devices, without any software installation, Alibaba Cloud can effectively defend against the current popular threats of hybrid data attacks and greatly improve the security and management capabilities of enterprises.

UTM integrates multiple functions, including firewall, VPN, IDS/IPS, anti-virus, anti-spam, URL filtering, and content filtering. UTM is more powerful than a security router, however, the price is relatively high. At present, UTM products have a high performance when multiple features are running at the same time. As an Integrated Gateway, This will directly affect users' business applications. For security devices, stability is especially important. The complexity of UTM Software Systems brings about loss of stability and increase of bugs. The software upgrade of third-party UTM vendors, such as virus databases, URL libraries, and attack rule libraries, costs a lot every year. The UTM standards need to be further unified and strengthened to promote the further development of the UTM market.

In short, in terms of performance and function comparison, professional firewalls have good performance and stable operation, and the price of low-end firewalls is also tens of thousands of yuan. UTM products are powerful, but the performance is not so good, in addition, the cost of software upgrades is estimated to be higher than the cost of low-end firewalls. For security routers, the price can be fixed by thousands of yuan, compared with Firewall and UTM, cost-effective, coupled with VPN and some firewall security functions, it is more suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Application of Security routers in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Currently, security routers on the market are mainly used for security access products for small and medium users. A user does not have high requirements on the performance of a router. In this network, it can also be the core device of the entire network and undertake two-way routing forwarding and security protection functions of the network. The VPN technology used by the security router is mainly designed for the network environment with remote access users, especially when the network system has the uplink and downlink egress.

For example, the branches of large enterprises and the core networks of small and medium-sized enterprises have security issues with the uplink and egress of the network or Internet of the upper-level companies, and they must ensure the security of their internal networks, at the same time, the network security of remote access users must be considered. As a whole, this network does not have very strict requirements on the routing function of the security router. Therefore, this kind of equipment integrating access, routing, VPN and firewall becomes the company's first choice. The appearance of a Security Router does not significantly change the overall structure of the network. Because a security router is an edge Access Router, therefore, it has little impact on the entire network, especially the backbone network.

For small and medium users, a new network can buy a security router, because it integrates several important functions. From the management cost perspective, it is certainly much easier than managing multiple products. Of course, the price of the product is higher than that of a common router, but it is acceptable.

According to the actual market and application results, security routers are favored by small and medium-sized enterprises because they can hide the company's internal network topology and encrypt the data to be transmitted, in this way, even if the transmitted data is intercepted by other users on the public network, they cannot use an IP package to obtain the internal network IP address and understand the internal network topology, if you do not have a dedicated decryption tool for encrypted data, it is impossible for users to know the content of the transmitted data packets.

Therefore, compared with small and medium-sized enterprises, because of limited budget, it is not only costly to purchase an independent firewall, but also complicated to set and manage. for small and medium-sized enterprises and branches of large enterprises, they do not have sufficient funds and personnel to maintain and configure the hardware firewall. Therefore, the appropriate security router can solve network security problems at a time and achieve network upgrades due to low prices, prepare for the construction of VPN and VoIP in the future.