Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?

Many companies want to safeguard their information and improve their security to protect against attacks, malware, and viruses. One of the main components of fighting off threats to your system is installing reliable firewall software to protect important information, data, and confidential reports. 

Let’s see the benefits of a firewall, how a firewall works, and the different types of firewalls to help safeguard your information. By knowing the basic information about firewalls and how they can help your company, you can make a smart decision about which security measure to purchase to protect your business. 

What is a firewall?

A firewall is a network security device that is in charge of monitoring incoming and outgoing network traffic. This protective measure helps block data packets based on pre-set parameters specific to the unique configuration.

The purpose of a firewall is to provide a barrier between your internal network, which contains your secure information, and incoming traffic from external sources, like viruses, malware, and spam links on the internet. 

Now that you know the function of a firewall, you may be asking yourself – Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?

How does a firewall work?

A firewall analyzes incoming traffic based on parameters pre-set before installation. These rules and regulations help filter the ‘good’ traffic from the ‘bad’ traffic by analyzing unsecured or suspicious sources to prevent attacks, gaining data, and security breaches. Firewalls work together with your computer’s entry point, called a port, to prevent the exchange of information with insecure sources. 

With your computer, only trusted IP addresses are allowed to enter the computer and the network. The firewall filters all addresses to make sure they are trusted sources and can access the ports. The ports on your laptop are accessible to the owner, who can control what information is allowed in and out of the system.

Before finding the answer to ‘Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?’Users need to know the steps of how a firewall works and operates with your computer security system. 

Types of firewalls

Firewalls are either software or hardware, even though most businesses with secure information should have both to completely protect their data. A software firewall is a program installed on a computer to regulate traffic through ports and applications. In contrast, a hardware firewall is a physical piece of equipment acting as a ‘barrier’ between your network and a gateway. 

Packet-Filtering Firewall

The most common type of firewall is called a packet-filtering firewall. This type examines packets and uses a security rule set to determine if the data can pass through the barrier into the network. This firewall analyzes the source of the packet and destination IP addresses to see if the rules ‘allow’ the packet to enter the network.

Packet-filtering firewalls are either stateful or stateless. Stateful firewalls examine packs one at a time, making them an easy target for hackers due to the lack of context and continuity. However, stateful firewalls remember information about previous security threats to better protect against future packets. 

Although packet-filtering firewalls are the most popular and widely-used, they only provide basic security benefits limiting bigger businesses with additional data. Most packet-filtering firewalls can’t determine the contents of the packet being sent, making the firewall lack continuous security. 

When asking yourself, ‘Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?’Business owners first need to know the different types of firewalls they can choose for their company. 

Next-Generation Firewall

This type of firewall is better at detecting threats than the aforementioned packet-filtering firewall. By combining traditional firewall technology with encrypted traffic inspection and antivirus software, the next-generation firewall uses deep packet inspection to completely examine data and stop packets from sending malicious data through the network

Proxy firewalls

This type of firewall filters traffic by acting as an intermediary between two systems. Proxy firewalls use 7 layer traffic protocols to perform stateful and deep pack inspections to detect any malicious links.

Network address translation firewalls

This type of firewall uses multiple devices with independent network addresses to act as an intermediary between a group of computers and web traffic. 

Stateful multilayer inspection firewalls

This firewall filters packets at the network, transport, and application layers, comparing them against trusted packets allowed into the system. By analyzing each packet entirely, the SMILE firewalls determine the state of communication to ensure all communication is only with trusted sources. 

Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?

Cisco Meraki created a lineup of MX firewalls that are easy to set up, making these products a good choice for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who are new at protecting their data and information. The products range from the MX67 costing $410, MX68 costing $585, and the MX84 costing $1,300. 

However, the least expensive choice is the Meraki MX64, an entry-level firewall that provides enough user capabilities for small businesses to thrive and remain protected. This affordable, user-friendly, intuitive, simple, and beginner option can help non-tech savvy people install and utilize this software without any troubles. 

With a quick deployment and setup, the MX64 can be installed in a matter of seconds for increased user-friendliness. After the setup, the entire system is cloud-managed, helping upgrade firmware through a protected SSL connection.

What can the Meraki MX64 do?

When deciding if the Cisco Meraki MX64 is good for your business, you may be wondering – what does this software actually do? For one thing, the Meraki MX64 has a built-in SD-WAN capacity to add on an impressive networking ability that not all beginner firewalls contain. The SD-WAN capability simplifies this product for non-IT people who still need a protective barrier for their business.

In addition, the MX64 has a firewall throughput of 250 Mbps and a VPN throughput of 100 Mbps, showing great speeds for being unaffordable and a small product. Additionally, the Cisco Meraki MX64 can support 50 users and VPN tunnels, featuring increased bandwidth for a beginner firewall. 

What type of business is the MX64 a good fit for?

When asking yourself ‘is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business, you need to see what type of businesses can best utilize this product to their advantage. The firewall is best suited for those with limited IT resources, such as small businesses, schools, individuals, startups, entrepreneurs, colleges, and high schools.

The Meraki MX64 offers protection and administrative functions without being overkill or hard to manage. The MX64 contains a Layer 7 firewall for added protection against malware and viruses. In addition, it can filter out tough content that other lower-level security appliances would not catch. 

Furthermore, the Meraki MX64 can provide you the ability to grant access to individuals, groups, or applications based on pre-set criteria composed by the owner. This lets business owners allow certain people access to specific documents without compromising the entire system. 

Meraki MX64 User Reviews

To get an idea of the answer to ‘Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?’ owners need to know user reviews of this software before using it for their data protection and security clearance. 

TrustRadius gave this product a 9 out of 10 according to 109 user reviews and ratings, showing a high confidence level with this software. Some of the most common user statements include the following benefits of using Meraki MX64:

  • The devices can create an aligned VPN network easily and quickly
  • The Meraki Cloud dashboard is easy to use and keeps your network organized
  • Works well with any drop-in configuration for an easy setup and installation
  • Easy to dispatch to a site or location for someone who has very little IT knowledge
  • Cost-effective replacement of more traditional services
  • Works well as a VPN concentrator for site-to-site communication and tunnels
  • Uses enterprise-grade security technology to protect your data
  • The cloud control panels make it easy to interconnect this location together with security
  • The Meraki MX is easy to administer and manage while using
  • Offers simplicity in the administration and configuration of the device
  • The SD-WAN technology is easy to set up and use with any network size
  • You can easily manage multiple devices in the same cloud platform

The only negatives from users who use the Meraki MX 64 are the following:

  • Lacks advanced features like port aggregation, names by an object, and FQDN
  • The licensing co-term scenario is difficult to use for beginners
  • Content filtering is not very granular for high-security threats
  • The wireless model does not have advanced wireless functionality
  • Some users wish for more port capacity for WAN connections

Business owners need to analyze the pros and cons of using the Meraki MX64 to fully answer the question ‘Is the Cisco Meraki MX64 a good choice for your business?’

Conclusion

The Meraki MX64 is a firewall technology used to protect against threats, security breaches, and malware. By keeping your data stored in a centralized location, featuring a user-friendly interface, using simple software for an easy set-up, and low price for affordability for businesses of any size, the Meraki MX64 could be the best choice for your new business venture.