Traditional Firewall

• A traditional firewall is a network security mechanism that monitors and controls malicious, harmful traffic and activities in the network based on several security rules. These rules can be customized according to the requirements of businesses and organizations.
• Traditional firewalls can be in the form of software applications installed on a server or can be in the form of a computer, or maybe in the physical hardware appliances that connect to an internal network.
• Traditional firewalls usually work between a trusted internal network and an untrusted network. Eg. Private network of organizations and the Internet.
• A traditional firewall manages the flow of traffic that goes in and out from a network, depending upon port, protocol, source IP address, and destination IP address.
• Traditional firewall performs Stateful Inspection, which means that they can identify the operating state of information packets that are trying to enter the network.
• Packet filtering, this feature ensures that incoming and outgoing information is closely monitored before allowing it to pass through. Only that information packets that match the firewall’s set of security rules are forwarded otherwise dropped.
• Traditional Firewall supports Virtual private network (VPN) to keep the private network secure when users traverse public networks such as the internet.
• But traditional firewalls are not so much effective against various types of advanced cyber threats happening nowadays to offer all required protection to deal with it.

Advantages

• A single firewall can protect your complete network zone
• Speed and performance remain intact
• Less vulnerable to attacks
• Integrates easily with other security systems like load balancing, VPN, etc.
• Affordable, even if user go for the top-rated firewalls
• Economical for a small office with limited systems
• Easy to set up and manage
• Determine the level of protection during its installation and define the security level accordingly for a user
• Better control and flexibility to assess which applications must be allowed or blocked
• Notifies the users about a malicious program trying to enter the network

Disadvantages

• Utilizes more resources including memory and disk space
• Performance can be affected based on system speed
• If more speed is needed, more bandwidth must be ordered
• Needs regular maintenance, administration, software updating, and testing
• A traditional firewall can become a speed bottleneck during peak usage sessions

Cloud Firewall

• A cloud firewall is also a network security mechanism just like a traditional firewall that prevents malicious network attacks. But the major difference between cloud firewalls is it hosted in the cloud.
• Cloud-based firewalls create a virtual security shield around cloud platforms, infrastructure, and applications, just like traditional firewalls create a security shield around an organization's internal network.
• Cloud firewalls can also protect on-premise infrastructure.
• This cloud-deployed, software-based security mechanism of firewall is also called firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS). This security mechanism is provided by third-party vendors as a service.
• Cloud-based firewalls do not require organizations to do installation and configuration work. Third-party vendors providing the service take care of all these things.
• They also manage and keep the cloud firewall services updated to face emerging challenges to make sure your network remains completely safe all time.
• Organizations only need to purchase and relax and invest all their time in nurturing and growing business without hassle or worries.

Advantages

• Cloud firewall easy to deploy without requiring too much time, integrate easily with cloud infrastructure
• Cloud firewalls scale up rapidly to handle more traffic and as per the growing needs of an organization
• Higher availability guarantees a constant flow of security services, redundant power, and automated backups
• Identity protection because they are capable of integrating with access controls, giving users better control on filtering tools
• Better performance as the user can control everything from visibility, configuration, usage, logging, etc.
• In case of any issue, you can utilize snapshots and then recover the desired states immediately.
• Malicious web traffic is blocked, including malware and bad bot activity.
• Some FWaaS products can also block sensitive data from going out.
• Traffic does not have to be funneled through a hardware appliance, so no network choke points are created.
• Multiple cloud deployments can be protected at once (as long as the cloud firewall vendor supports each cloud).
• Organizations do not need to maintain cloud firewalls themselves; the vendor handles all updates.

Disadvantages

• Availability depends on the cloud infrastructure’s availability.
• Advanced features might slow down your network.
• Often considers generic use cases that might not be efficient in blocking software-specific vulnerabilities like those in plugins.