Your firewall is the front door to your network. We deploy, configure and actively manage next-generation firewalls so it stays locked down, up to date and performing.
A firewall is only as good as its configuration and upkeep. Left unmanaged, rules drift, firmware falls behind and gaps quietly open, exactly what attackers look for.
WhizzIT takes ownership of your next-generation firewall end to end: correct configuration, active threat prevention, timely updates and continuous monitoring, so your perimeter stays strong without adding to your team's workload.
Back to Network ManagementWhat's included
Almost every business we assess already owns a capable firewall. The box is rarely the issue. What it is running, and who last looked at it, usually is.
Firewall vulnerabilities get published, and because these devices sit on the public internet they are scanned and exploited quickly, sometimes within days of an advisory. An unpatched firewall is not a neutral risk, it is an internet-facing door with a known key. Yet firmware updates get deferred because nobody wants to reboot the internet during working hours, and then the deferral becomes permanent.
Somebody opened a port temporarily for a supplier in 2021 and it is still open. An any to any rule went in to get a project finished and never came out. Nobody can say which rules are still needed because there is no record of why they were added, so nobody dares remove any of them.
The intrusion prevention, web filtering and threat intelligence that make a next-generation firewall worth buying are licensed separately. When those lapse the device carries on passing traffic quite happily with its best features switched off, and nothing tells you.
What we take ownership of
The phrase is on every vendor's datasheet. These are the parts that earn it.
Older firewalls made decisions on ports. Modern traffic mostly rides over 443, so port rules tell you almost nothing. Application control identifies what is really passing through, which is how you allow a service you sanction while blocking one you do not, even though both look identical from the outside.
Inspects traffic for known exploit patterns and blocks them in transit. It is one of the licensed features that quietly stops working when a subscription lapses, which is why we track renewals as part of the service rather than leaving it to a diary entry.
Most threats now arrive over encrypted connections, so a firewall that cannot look inside them is guessing. It is worth being straight about the trade-offs: inspection costs throughput, needs certificates deploying properly, and some traffic such as banking should be excluded deliberately. Done carelessly it breaks applications, which is why it is configured deliberately rather than switched on wholesale.
Traditional VPN does one thing: it puts a remote device on your network. That was fine when the alternative was nothing, and it is now the part of the setup attackers most want to reach, because one stolen laptop or one reused password buys them the whole internal network to explore.
The direction of travel is access to specific applications rather than access to the network. A user is authenticated, their device is checked, and they are connected to the one system they need and nothing else. If that account is later compromised, the damage is bounded by design instead of by luck. Not every business needs to move immediately, but if your VPN currently drops everyone onto a flat internal network, that is worth revisiting.
Multi-factor authentication on VPN access without exception, accounts removed the day someone leaves rather than the following quarter, and internal segmentation so a compromised machine cannot reach your servers and your backups just because it is inside the building. We are a Fortinet partner and will recommend the right model for your size and connectivity rather than the box with the best margin.
Independently assessed against the UK government-backed scheme, so our security fundamentals are verified rather than simply claimed. We help clients certify too.
How Cyber Essentials helps you
A direct partnership with Microsoft. We license, deploy and support Microsoft 365 and Azure for you, with escalation straight to Microsoft when it is needed.
Our Microsoft cloud servicesCyber Essentials is a UK government scheme run by the National Cyber Security Centre, delivered by IASME. You can verify what the certification covers at source.
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Matthew Temple, Director · see all 15 reviewsBilly provides a superb service; responsive, attentive and very knowledgeable about IT.
We size, install and configure the right firewall for your network, with a secure rule set from day one.
We watch it around the clock, apply firmware updates and tune rules as your business changes.
Clear reporting on threats blocked and traffic patterns, with recommendations to keep improving.
We hold partner status with the vendors behind the tools we deploy, so your licensing, support and escalation come direct from the source rather than through a reseller chain.
Book a free consultation and we'll review your network and where it can improve.