Stay secure with our latest firewall updates, trends, and expert insights in information security to protect your digital assets effectively.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Firewalls are security controls that permit or block network connections according to policy. They can operate at network boundaries, between internal segments, on individual hosts, or in cloud environments. Basic rules use addresses, ports, protocols, and connection state; more advanced firewalls may inspect applications or encrypted traffic where configured. Their purpose is to limit which systems can communicate, not to determine that all permitted traffic is safe.
Security depends heavily on accurate policy and maintenance. Overly broad, obsolete, or conflicting rules can expose services or allow unnecessary lateral movement, while unmanaged administrative interfaces and unpatched firewall software create additional attack surfaces. Practitioners should restrict management access, apply least-privilege rules, review and remove exceptions, and monitor logs for unexpected connections and policy changes. Firewall logs can support investigation, but encryption, evasion, and traffic allowed by policy may limit what the control can detect.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
Ongoing Campaign May Be Grabbing Legacy Passwords From Fortinet FortiGate DevicesCybercriminals are selling access to 75,000 Fortinet FortiGate devices with VPN and web management interfaces, and the admin credentials appear to be legitimate and recently harvested as part of a still-live campaign, security experts warned.
CEO Nikesh Arora Says Agentic Workloads Generate Traffic Requiring InspectionPalo Alto Networks said surging AI infrastructure investment and growing enterprise demand for AI governance are expanding cybersecurity spending, while false positives from advanced AI vulnerability tools underscore the continued need for human oversight.
Vendor Details Mitigations, Promises Patched PAN-OS Software in Coming WeeksPalo Alto Networks warned that a critical vulnerability in the PAN-OS software that runs its firewalls is being actively exploited in the wild by attackers. The vendor detailed temporary mitigations and promised to release updated software to fully patch the flaw later this month.
'Firestarter' Backdoor Can Survive Reboots, Upgrades and Standard FixesThe Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency directive warning a newly-discovered Cisco backdoor can survive routine remediation processes, forcing agencies to investigate edge devices that anchor federal firewall and VPN security.
AWS Researchers Find an Interlock Server Laden With ToolsRansomware hackers exploited a flaw with a maximum vulnerability score in Cisco firewall management software weeks before the networking giant disclosed the vulnerability in early March. The group has focused extensively on critical infrastructure sectors in North America and Europe.
Juniper Tells Customers to Tune Their FirewallA critical vulnerability in Juniper Networks' primary operating system could give threat actors root level privileges to execute code on Juniper’s PTX Series routers. Successful exploitation would give attackers full command and control over devices without the need for authentication.
Lawsuit Claims SonicWall Cloud Backup Flaw Led to Ransomware Attack Against MarquisMarquis Software Solutions has sued SonicWall alleging a cloud backup data breach exposed firewall configuration files, including credentials and multifactor authentication scratch codes. The firm says the breach enabled an August 2025 ransomware attack and triggered dozens of class action lawsuits.
How Consolidation Is Forcing CISOs and CIOs to Rethink Security ArchitectureFor more than a decade, enterprise security has relied on point solutions. Companies invested in separate tools - endpoint detection, firewalls, cloud security and IAM - each designed to address a specific threat or compliance requirement. But that approach is starting to break down.
How Consolidation Is Forcing CISOs and CIOs to Rethink Security ArchitectureFor more than a decade, enterprise security has relied on point solutions. Companies invested in separate tools - endpoint detection, firewalls, cloud security and IAM - each designed to address a specific threat or compliance requirement. But that approach is starting to break down.
Also, Sedgwick Confirms Breach, Romanian Power Firm Hit, D-Link Flaws ExploitedThis week, Moody's said firewalls will be obsolete, Romanian critical infrastructure hacked, Sedgwick breach and a D-Link DSL flaw. Finland seized the Fitburg. Microsoft said Direct Send not to blame for Exchange phishing. Malicious Chrome extensions, European hotels targeted and health breaches.
Also, Sedgwick Confirms Breach, Romanian Power Firm Hit, D-Link Flaws ExploitedThis week, Moody's said firewalls will be obsolete, Romanian critical infrastructure hacked, Sedgwick breach and a D-Link DSL flaw. Finland seized the Fitburg. Microsoft said Direct Send not to blame for Exchange phishing. Malicious Chrome extensions, European hotels targeted and health breaches.
Scans Count 117,000 Unpatched Firewalls Running Vulnerable Version of Fireware OSAttackers are actively attempting to exploit a now patched, zero-day vulnerability in WatchGuard Firebox firewalls, tracked as CVE-2025-14733, that can be used to remotely execute code. Scans show that over 115,000 of these edge devices remain internet-connected, unpatched and at risk.
Outage Briefly Took Down Zoom, LinkedIn and Other WebsitesContent delivery network giant Cloudflare is investigating a brief outage early Friday that took down multiple websites. The incident marks the second outage in the span of a month, although the causes are unrelated. It stemmed from how Cloudflare's web application firewall parses requests.
Marquis Software Solutions Says Ransomware Group Hit SonicWall Device, Stole DataMarketing and compliance software maker Marquis Software Solutions, which counts over 700 banks and credit unions as customers, said a ransomware group breached its SonicWall firewall and stole hundreds of thousands of individuals' personal details, including Social Security numbers.
CISA Says Agencies Believed They Patched Cisco Flaws But Had NotThe U.S. cyber defense agency issued new patch guidance after discovering multiple federal agencies failed to properly secure Cisco firewalls, leaving federal networks exposed to exploitation by a suspected Chinese threat actor despite a prior emergency directive.
Why the Fortinet Earnings Case Is a Cautionary Tale for the Cybersecurity SectorFortinet's stock unexpectedly plunged more than 20% in August. That same month, Gartner named Fortinet an industry leader in its Magic Quadrant for hybrid mesh firewalls. But the thing that sent Fortinet's stock into a nosedive was revenue forecasts that didn't pan out.
Pension Funds Say Fortinet Leaders Misled Market With Overly Rosy Refresh OutlookPublic pension funds filed securities fraud lawsuits claiming Fortinet misled investors by overstating the value and timing of a major firewall refresh cycle. The lawsuits allege the refresh involved outdated products and had limited business impact, contradicting Fortinet's upbeat public messaging.
Akira Ransomware Hackers Targeting SonicWall DevicesFirewall maker SonicWall said Friday all customers who used its cloud backup services are at increased "risk of targeted attacks" following a recent cyberattack. The California firm in September disclosed that unidentified hackers launched brute-force attacks against servers storing backup files.
Akira Ransomware Hackers Targeting SonicWall DevicesFirewall maker SonicWall said Friday all customers who used its cloud backup services are at increased "risk of targeted attacks" following a recent cyberattack. The California firm in September disclosed that unidentified hackers launched brute-force attacks against servers storing backup files.