What is FWaaS - Firewall as-a-Service?

Firewall as-a-service (FWaaS) is an emerging method to deliver select firewall functionality as a cloud service, as opposed to the more traditional hardware-based firewall platforms.

Enterprises have always deployed next-generation firewalls as hardware-based appliances. FWaaS is a growing alternative approach to provide select firewall functionality as a cloud-based service. The promise of FWaaS is to provide organizations with a solution that can be easier to manage and offers flexibility to add and subtract features.

However, FWaaS isn't yet a direct replacement for hardware-based firewall offerings as it lacks some critical capabilities. It may be an option for smaller organizations to consider, as well as those struggling to proliferate firewall-based security controls to a large number of remote locations. In addition, organizations implementing SD-WAN (software-defined WAN) may be more inclined to see benefits from FWaaS.