What to read next Overview A significant number of network breaches originate in branch offices. Branch offices are vulnerable to a variety of attack vectors, including sophisticated phishing campaigns, lax physical security, and insider threats from disgruntled or careless users. These threats can be used to gain access to the network. With proper defenses, the damage from these attacks can be limited to the branch office and prevented from spreading to more sensitive areas of the network, such as the data center. VMware Enhanced Firewall Services (EFS) are natively integrated security services in the VMware SD-WAN Edge that can help protect branch offices from attacks. Reference ArchitectureThe reference architecture describes the basic topology, use cases, and functionality of the EFS components when activated for accessing applications in a multi-cloud environment, whether it be for branch-to-branch traffic, branch-to-hub traffic, or when accessing SaaS applications on the public cloud. Design ConsiderationsAlthough Enhanced Firewall Services (EFS) can be set up with a few mouse clicks, a thorough understanding of the network, traffic flows, and current configurations is required before activating and configuring the feature. Traffic PatternsThis section describes about monitoring and inspecting network traffic patterns to detect threats and troubleshoot performance issues. Best PracticesThe deployment of VMware EFS, or any new feature, requires careful consideration and planning. Deployment StrategyThe following is a simple guide on what tools are available in the Orchestrator, how to use the tools, and how to activate EFS to start inspecting traffic.
