Modern Network Protection—Policy-as-Code, Zero Trust, and Audit-Ready
Firewalls are your policy enforcement engines for north–south and (select) east–west traffic—on-prem, cloud, and edge.
SolveForce designs and operates next-gen firewalls (NGFW) and Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) that are Zero-Trust by default, policy-as-code, and wired to evidence—so you get real protection without slowing the business.
Related: 🛡️ WAF/Bot → /waf • 🔐 ZTNA/SASE → /ztna / /sase • 🚪 NAC → /nac
🧩 Microsegmentation → /microsegmentation • ☁️ Cloud → /cloud • 🔀 SD-WAN → /sd-wan
📊 Evidence/Automation → /siem-soar • 🔑 Keys/Secrets → /key-management • /secrets-management
🎯 Outcomes (Why SolveForce Firewalls)
- Real control — application/user/identity-aware rules, IPS/AV, URL & DNS filtering, sandboxing, DLP/TLS inspection where policy allows.
- Zero-Trust posture — default-deny, least privilege, identity + device posture in decisions.
- Change with confidence — policy-as-code, staged rings, automatic rollback on SLO breach.
- Cloud parity — same policy model across DC, branch, SASE/FWaaS, and cloud NGFW.
- Audit-ready — rule owners, hit-counts, recertification, change diffs, and logs exported to SIEM.
🧭 Scope (What We Build & Operate)
- Perimeter & DC NGFW — L3–L7, IPS/IDS, decryption, NAT, virtual routers, HA clusters.
- Cloud firewalls — provider NGFW & partner firewalls (AWS/Azure/GCP), hub-and-spoke, Private Endpoints. → /cloud
- SASE / FWaaS — cloud POP-based firewalling (SWG/DNS/IPS) for roaming users/sites. → /sase
- Branch firewalls — NGFW with SD-WAN (app-aware steering) and ZTNA for per-app user access. → /sd-wan • /ztna
- East–west choke points — selective internal zones (e.g., crown-jewel VRFs) complementing microsegmentation. → /microsegmentation
- DNS security — sinkhole, domain risk feeds, split-DNS enforcement.
- Policy lifecycle — owners, tags, comments, hit-counts, time-bound rules, recertification, shadowed/duplicate cleanup.
🧱 Building Blocks (Spelled Out)
- Rule model: identity (SSO groups/claims), device posture (MDM/UEM, EDR health), app-ID, URL category, geo/ASN, time, data class.
- Threat services: IPS/AV/anti-bot, file detonation (sandbox), DNS security, URL filtering.
- TLS decryption: selective (legal/privacy aware), enterprise CA, bypass lists for sensitive apps, cert pinning exceptions.
- VPN/IPsec: site-to-site & remote (Ikev2), perfect-forward secrecy, BGP over IPsec for dynamic routing.
- HA & scale: active/active or active/standby, health-checks, session sync, autoscale (cloud).
- Logging & evidence: every allow/deny with rule ID/owner; config diffs, package version, threat updates → SIEM/SOAR. → /siem-soar
🧩 Reference Architectures (Pick Your Fit)
A) DC Perimeter + Crown-Jewel Zones
- Dual NGFWs inline; identity-aware rules; IPS + DNS/URL; TLS decrypt for approved categories; selective east–west choke for Tier-0 workloads; HA with L3 ECMP.
B) Cloud Hub NGFW
- Transit VPC/VNet hub, spoke isolation, Private Endpoints only; cloud NGFW + traffic mirroring; IaC modules; identity-aware policies mirrored from DC.
C) Branch NGFW + SD-WAN
- App-aware overlay; NGFW stack (IPS/URL/DNS) on device or POP; ZTNA for per-app access; packet duplication/FEC for voice.
D) FWaaS / SASE
- User traffic to nearest POP: SWG/DNS/IPS/WAF-lite; identity + device posture; policy follows user anywhere.
E) High-Risk Egress Control
- Egress allow-list, DNS sinkhole, DLP on POST/PUT, CASB/SWG for SaaS; tokenization and HMAC/JWS for partner APIs; WAF for public edges. → /waf • /dlp
📐 SLO Guardrails (Targets You Can Measure)
| Metric (p95 unless noted) | Target (Recommended) |
|---|---|
| Inline latency added (IPS on) | ≤ 0.25–1.0 ms DC • ≤ 1–3 ms branch |
| TLS decrypt throughput per node | Sized to peak; alert at ≥ 70–80% |
| Threat feed update latency | ≤ 10–30 min |
| Policy deploy → enforced | ≤ 60–120 s |
| Change success rate | ≥ 99% (staged rings + rollback) |
| Log delivery delay to SIEM | ≤ 60–120 s |
| Evidence completeness (changes/incidents) | = 100% |
SLO breaches trigger SOAR (rollback, relax rule, scale out, re-prioritize). → /siem-soar
🔒 Zero-Trust & Integrations
- Users: ZTNA per app/session; SASE inspection for web/SaaS; NAC at ports. → /ztna • /sase • /nac
- Workloads: Microseg for least privilege; firewalls enforce zone boundaries and service egress. → /microsegmentation
- Keys/Secrets: enterprise PKI, HSM/KMS custody for TLS inspection and VPN; vault for shared secrets. → /key-management • /secrets-management
- Front door: WAF/Bot for web/API; DDoS stance; signed URLs and API quotas. → /waf • /ddos
🧪 Policy Hygiene & Governance
- Owner & intent on every rule; tags for app/team/data class.
- Hit-count review; quarantine stale rules → remove after change window.
- Shadow/duplicate detection; explicit default-deny at end of sections.
- Recertification cadences (e.g., 90/180 days) tied to CAB/CI evidence.
- Policy-as-code in Git; PRs, approvals, and automated checks (lint, shadow, order). → /infrastructure-as-code
🧰 Cutover & Change (Safe by Design)
- Canary policies (percentage/sites), health & latency gates, instant rollback.
- Maintenance windows + pre/post snapshots; config lock + break-glass SOP.
- Autogenerated AAR with diffs, metrics, and recommendations.
📜 Compliance Mapping (Examples)
- PCI DSS Req. 1 — network segmentation, rule documentation, change control, logging.
- HIPAA — transmission security, audit controls.
- NIST 800-53/171 / CMMC — AC/SC/CM families (boundary, cryptographic, configuration).
- ISO 27001 — A.12/A.13 controls for operations and network security.
Evidence exported to SIEM with WORM options; rule attestations included.
📊 Observability & Evidence
- Threat visibility: IPS signatures, DNS sinkholes, sandbox verdicts.
- Policy: rule hit-counts, top denies/allows, shadowed rules.
- Health: latency, CPU/NP offload, session counts, decrypt queues.
- Change: diffs, approvers, CAB IDs.
All streams feed SIEM; SOAR automates block/unblock with approvals. → /siem-soar
🛠️ Implementation Blueprint (No-Surprise Rollout)
1) Zone model & protect surface — crown-jewel apps, data classes, user groups.
2) Identity & posture — map SSO groups/claims; device posture signals; ZTNA/SASE interplay.
3) Baselines — current rules, hit-counts, flows; desired intents; east–west choke-point plan.
4) Design — HA/scale, decrypt policy, IPS/DNS/URL, NAT/VPN, logging/SIEM, SD-WAN integration.
5) IaC & policy-as-code — modules, PR gates (lint/shadow/order), canary rings.
6) Cutover — staged deploy; health/latency gates; rollback playbooks.
7) Operate — SLO dashboards; quarterly recertification; backlog of rule cleanup & optimizations.
✅ Pre-Engagement Checklist
- 🧭 Network map (zones/VRFs/VPCs), app inventory, data classes.
- 🔐 Identity (SSO/MFA), device posture (MDM/UEM + EDR), ZTNA/SASE policy.
- 🔑 PKI/HSM/KMS posture for VPN/decrypt; vault for secrets.
- 🌐 Egress policy (DNS/URL), NAT/VPN needs, SD-WAN interplay.
- 📊 SIEM/SOAR destinations; reporting cadence; CAB process.
- 💸 Throughput/latency targets; capacity headroom; FW/CSPM/FinOps scope.
🔄 Where Firewalls Fit (Recursive View)
1) Grammar — policy rails in /connectivity & /networks-and-data-centers.
2) Syntax — compose with /cloud hubs and /sd-wan edges.
3) Semantics — /cybersecurity preserves truth; keys/logs/backups prove control.
4) Pragmatics — /solveforce-ai predicts risk & surplus latency, suggests safe policy changes.
5) Foundation — consistent terms via /primacy-of-language.