What Are the Top 10 Firewall Software in China?

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Top 10 Firewall Software in China for 2020 

A software firewall is one of the best—and most convenient—ways of protecting your network and its devices. A software firewall—like its hardware counterpart—examines the data coming in from the internet and checks to see if it contains anything that could harm your system. To do this, the firewall checks individual data packets, as well as specific sections within, to compare their contents against a list of known threats. Some software firewalls can also update automatically, keeping your network or device protected against even the newest threats. 

Without a firewall, your network or device is like a mansion with its gate wide open and no security. While your computer's internal defenses may help, a firewall is like a security guard with the names and IDs of a long list of criminals. With a software firewall in place, you do not have to worry about them even taking a shot at bypassing your system's defenses. You are completely shielded from a long list of threats.

It is crucial to stay cyber safe, especially during a global pandemic like COVID-19. As the pandemic impacts the income of billions of people around the world, cybercriminals will grow more desperate, and launch more and more attacks, in an attempt to exploit a system for profit.

Using Firewall Software to Bypass China's VPN Ban

China has long valued the ability to control the news, online content, and other media its residents can consume. To facilitate this control, China has built its own firewall, often referred to as the Great Firewall of China, to keep its citizens from accessing certain websites outside the country.

The list of banned sites includes popular sites like YouTube and Facebook but also lesser-known sites that many Chinese users need for business or entertainment purposes. At the same time, people visiting China for business often find it difficult to get the online content they need. This includes those who do business in the country for extended periods or even just a few days.

As a workaround, many users, both residents, and visitors had been using virtual private networks (VPNs). When you use a VPN, the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your device is masked and you can make it look like you are in another country. Another big draw of VPNs is the security they offer.

A VPN encrypts all data you send and receive over the internet while you are connected. In effect, you get a secure tunnel through which your communications can pass. Because the data is encrypted, even if a hacker were to intercept it, the effort required to decipher it would take too much time and resources. Therefore, hackers often move on to someone else's data because it is an easier target. 

Conducting safe, secure, cyber-smart business in China before the VPN ban was far easier because all you had to do was log in to your VPN before connecting to the internet. Since the ban, however, obtaining a secure connection is more challenging.

A software firewall can protect your internet activity in China just as well as a VPN. The firewall blocks attackers from gaining access to your communications, as well as millions of bots, malware, and viruses.

It is important to keep in mind that not all firewalls are created equal. You want to pick the best firewall software because when you choose from a reputable company, you get a powerful firewall backed by a long track record of security success. You also benefit from a solid, well-established, and tested infrastructure, which results in uninterrupted, secure internet connections.

Benefits of Using Firewalls from Top Brands

Internet users in China need to rely on a trustworthy software firewall, particularly because VPNs have been outlawed. A firewall you can trust filters out malicious software and attacks. It also checks the data your device is sending out to the internet to make sure your computer or network is not being used to spread malware.

When you choose one of the top software firewalls, you do not only get reliable software but you also benefit from the years the company has spent developing, testing, and refining their software. A software firewall relies on an ever-populating list of threats, and the top firewalls for Chinese users have the most complete lists available and can thus protect Chinese users better than others.

Some of the top brands include Fortinet, Cloudflare, Cisco Meraki, and Signal Sciences.

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Top Firewall Software in China

Fortinet Firewall

Once you have purchased your Fortinet firewall, you should figure out the data you want to protect the most. These will be designated as protection zones that your Fortinet Chinese firewall will safeguard. You will then create and adjust your access control lists. These tell the firewall which sites and IP addresses to prevent from accessing your system. 

The final step is to test your configuration to make sure it is blocking threats but allowing what you need to pass through to enter your system.

Forcepoint NGFW

The Forcepoint next-generation firewall (NGFW) features several layers that shield your network, its endpoints and its users against a range of threats.

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Formed in 2004 by Barracuda Networks, the Barracuda CloudGen Firewall comes with a free trial and 24/7 online and live support. This firewall consists of network access control (NAC) software and features application security, antivirus, behavioral analytics, encryption, endpoint protection, and more.

Cisco Meraki

Cisco Meraki's software firewall is trusted by over a million active networks. It operates 100% in the cloud and is easy to install. It also offers the option to reduce alerts and prioritize the more dangerous threats.

FortiWeb Software Firewall

With FortiWeb, you get a web application firewall (WAF) that shields web applications, as well as application programming interfaces (APIs), from attackers. FortiWeb uses machine learning to bolster its protection, which results in more threats being detected and kept away from your system. 

To use FortiWeb, you first choose the role you need it to play. FortiWeb can be a reverse proxy, true transparent proxy, or inline transparent proxy. It can also perform offline sniffing or act as a web cache communication protocol, which redirects the flow of traffic according to preset parameters. Then you review its built-in configurations, augmenting them to meet your specific needs. 

Once FortiWeb is connected, you can use it on its own to protect your network or in conjunction with FortiGate and FortiSandbox to add more layers of protection.

Palo Alto Networks Strata

With Palo Alto Networks Strata, you can secure applications, data, and individual users regardless of where they are. It gives you the ability to evaluate the performance of your firewall and protects Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, as well as traditional endpoints.

Fortinet FortiGate NGFW

The FortiGate NGFW consolidates your security services while simplifying management. It shields you from a comprehensive list of cyber threats at the edge and within your data center and core network. 

FortiGate is scalable and features the fastest and most advanced NGFW in the industry, as tested by NSS Labs, AV-Comparatives, and Virus Bulletin. This makes FortiGate an ideal solution for the Chinese population because it can guard your network and endpoints against the vast array of threats that infiltrate China on a daily basis.

AWS WAF

With AWS WAF, you can create security procedures that block the most common attacks while also filtering out unwanted traffic. AWS regularly updates its filtering rules to account for the most dangerous threats.

FortiWeb by Fortinet

FortiWeb gives you artificial intelligence-enhanced, multi-layered protection, safeguarding your web applications from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) top 10 threats, and more. FortiWeb uses dual machine learning engines to detect and stop sophisticated threats, including Structured Query Language (SQL) injection, buffer overflows, cookie poisoning, cross-site scripting (XSS), denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and malicious sources.

AWS Firewall Manager

With the AWS Firewall Manager, you can build your own firewall rules and enforce them using a hierarchical security structure. You can use it to enable security groups, make AWS Shield Advanced protections, and design AWS WAF rules for AWS-based applications and resources.

Choose the Best Firewall Software

In a cyber landscape rife with threats, it is crucial to protect your network with firewall software, whether you are in China or anywhere else in the world. This is especially important during turbulent times like the COVID-19 pandemic because as attackers get more desperate, they are bound to launch more threats. 

With a Fortinet Chinese software firewall, you get a flexible protection solution that can keep you a step ahead of malicious actors.

Lesley Montoya

Update 08 October 2020