A few years ago, stopping threats at the network edge was the standard. You'd set up a firewall, monitor the traffic, and block anything suspicious. That approach still has value, but it doesnt stretch far enough anymore. Today, systems live across clouds, endpoints float outside traditional perimeters, and users log in from just about anywhere.

This blog explains how different firewalls, like perimeter, host-based, and cloud-native, play different roles. You'll see why firewalls work best when combined and how they fit into stronger network security strategies.

One Firewall Wont Cover It Anymore

Attackers no longer come through just the front door. They find forgotten services, misconfigured ports, and underprotected internal systems. Relying only on the firewall at the edge leaves too much of the network exposed.

As your systems grow across multiple environments, your security has to follow. Thats where layered protection helps. Think of each firewall type as covering a piece of the map. When used together, they build a more complete picture and offer better defense.

Perimeter Firewalls

Perimeter firewalls sit at the networks outer edge. Their job is to inspect and filter traffic that tries to enter or leave your environment. Theyre good at blocking large-scale attacks, denying access from risky sources, and managing access to known services.

They work well as a first filter. But once something gets past them, or if it starts from inside the network, perimeter firewalls cant do much. They dont see internal connections or whats happening between devices. And in a cloud-heavy or remote-first setup, there may not even be a clear edge to guard.

Host-Based Firewalls

A host firewall runs directly on the machine it protects. Youll find them on laptops, servers, virtual machines, anywhere you can define traffic rules specific to that device.

These firewalls are great for blocking lateral movement. If one system gets infected, a host firewall can stop the threat from spreading to others. That makes them valuable in environments where users or devices move around frequently.

Cloud-Native Firewalls

Cloud providers offer their own built-in firewalls. These aren't like traditional ones with IP-based rules. Instead, they let you write policies based on tags, roles, or other metadata. That gives you more flexibility and also more room for mistakes.

Cloud firewalls work best when apps move around, scale quickly, or run inside containers. You can allow or block access based on what the service is, rather than where it lives. But with that power comes responsibility: a misconfigured rule could expose something sensitive without warning.

Bringing It All Together

At this point, you're probably thinking about how these firewalls relate to each other. This is where the idea of layering comes in.

Using firewalls and network security strategies together helps cover more ground. The perimeter firewall blocks obvious attacks at the edge. Host-based firewalls stop threats from bouncing around inside. Cloud-native rules manage traffic between cloud services or workloads.

Each firewall type covers what the others miss. A layered approach doesnt guarantee perfect protection, but it makes it harder for attackers to move unnoticed.

What Happens When They Dont Work Together

Problems come up when these firewalls operate in silos. You might have overlapping rules, or worse, gaps between them. Policies that arent aligned can cause friction, lead to service outages, or create windows that attackers can slip through.

Another issue is visibility. Logs might live in different places, and you might not notice if two firewalls are blocking each others traffic. Without coordination, the system becomes harder to manage and easier to misconfigure.

Making the Most of Each Firewall Type

You dont need to pick one firewall and stick with it. You just need to use each type where it makes sense:

• Keep perimeter firewalls in place to manage traffic at the edge.

• Use host firewalls to segment internal systems and keep devices in check.

• Apply cloud-native policies to control access between services running in the cloud.

It also helps to review rules regularly, keep them simple, and monitor what they block or allow. Write rules that match what systems actually need to donothing more, nothing less.

Conclusion

As systems continue to spread across cloud, on-prem, and remote environments, the idea of a single entry point disappears. Your perimeter changes every time a new device connects or a cloud workload spins up. Thats why layered protection, built from multiple firewall types, isnt just helpful, its becoming standard.

Looking ahead, firewalls will likely move closer to the services they protect. Identity and context may matter more than IP addresses. As those shifts happen, youll want your firewalls and network security strategy to keep pace, working together, not separately.